A London childhood should be a time of play, of fun and happiness. But for Jane Jeffrey, growing up in Tooting in the early 1920s, life is anything but. For though Mickey Jeffrey is her mother's husband, he's not Jane's father, and for that he cannot forgive her. Losing money at the book-makers, the Labour Exchange forcing him to go job-hunting - it doesn't take much to spark off his black moods, moods which he takes out on Jane.
It is with heavy heart, then, that Jane's mother decides it would be best for her daughter's interests if she lived somewhere else. Sent to Winchelsea Lodge, a children's home in Sussex, Jane has the opportunity to start her childhood all over again.
Jane's sixteenth birthday comes round all too soon, and she faces the daunting double task of returning to London and finding a living. When Jane gets a job as a companion to a wealthy blind woman, she finally feels as if she has struck lucky. And that is before she discovers the delights of love . . .
