1939: Young Lily Shepherd boards an ocean liner in Essex bound for Australia. She is ready to start anew leaving behind the shadows in her past. The voyage shows Lily places she’d only ever dreamed of and enables her to make friends with people above her social station. She even allows herself to hope that a man she couldn’t possibly have a future with outside the cocoon of the ship might return her feelings. But Lily’s newfound friends - the toxic wealthy couple Eliza and Max; Cambridge graduate Edward; Jewish refugee Maria; fascist George - are also running away from their pasts. As the glamour of the voyage fades the stage is set for something sinister to occur. By the time the ship docks two passengers are dead war has been declared and Lily’s life will be changed irrevocably.