Elizabeth "Bette" Leigh Black comes of age in the years before WWII. Although money is scarce in the aftermath of the Depression, her home with her mother, Chloe, and her stepfather is happy. But as the war taints their sheltered world, Bette begins to realize life is sometimes cruel--and not everyone has the happiness she does. She finishes school and briefly becomes involved in anti-Nazi espionage until she marries.