Young Kay Armstrong wants to break away from her tough East End background where her friends are turning to crime. She gets a job in the City and her prospects are good. But when she plans a holiday to Spain that involves forging her passport, she takes a step too far... Meanwhile her dad, Jack, is spearheading the great dock strike; he and his wife Laura worry about their headstrong daughter, especially the new set of friends introducing her to fashionable restaurants and the pleasures of drinking. Then Zacchi, the handsome gypsy boyfriend of her past reappears, and Kay has some hard choices to make... Set against the backdrop of small-time crooks and big-time villains, the docks, streets, markets and pubs of Whitechapel, Docker's Daughter is authentic and moving, full of the unquenchable spirit of the East End.