Hettie is an orphan, taken in by Ellie Pride and her husband to their Preston home and treated as one of the family. But she has never felt she truly belonged. Hettie has a special gift - a beautiful singing voice - and on the cusp of womanhood, she makes a choice that will alter the course of her life. Amid the bright lights of Liverpool, she will follow her dreams. But once there, the only way to survive is working in the kitchens of a restaurant. Until, by chance, she is heard singing by the owner...Whisked to London, Hettie is thrown into a theatrical and colourful world but one with a dark side, its young inhabitants haunted by the horror of the First World War, and stalked by the fear of the Depression to come. Then tragedy strikes, and Hettie must decide between her heart and her head, her duty and her desire.