Ada Houston's life is shattered when her brother Frank goes missing following an accident at the docks. She hears a rumour that he survived and left Liverpool to fight a foreign war so she boards a ship to bring him home. But the battlefields of the Crimea are a hostile place for a penniless young woman. Then one day she is offered the chance to train as a nurse under the famous Florence Nightingale. Ada shows great aptitude as she cares for her injured countrymen makes new friends and finds romance. But Frank is still missing and she needs to find him before it's too late . . .