Eighteen-year-old Debbie Hargreaves is heading to college in Leeds where she'll be sharing digs with three girls. Debbie soon becomes firm friends with shy Lisa outspoken Karen and self-assured Fran. Over the coming months the four flatmates will share tears and laughter and the drama of a new romance. At the same time Debbie's birth mother Fiona Norwood is struggling to cope with four young children and her duties as a rector's wife. The arrival of a new childminder should be an answer to her prayers but Glenda's open flirting with Fiona's husband soon gets tongues wagging. Is Fiona's marriage really under threat?