"1990, Blackpool. Thirty-three-year-old Helen Burnside is shocked when she learns that her beloved Great Aunt Alice has died of a sudden heart attack, and even more surprised when she is bequeathed her Yorkshire cottage. Although they were close, Alice was an enigmatic figure, estranged from most of her family. What led to the long-held animosity between Alice, her mother, Ada and her sister, Lizzie, and why did she leave Blackpool for Yorkshire all those years ago? Moving into Alice's cottage, Helen uncovers a series of devastating family secrets. But as she pieces together the truth about her aunt's life, it seems her own life is about to go in a life-changing direction."
"1960. Having been firm friends ever since they met in a Blackpool boarding house five years before, Val, Cissie and Janice are all now happily married, preoccupied with their growing families. But the new decade will bring change for all three families. Val and Sam's son's behaviour is causing concern, and Val finds it hard at times to love him as she should. Running a thriving cafe in Harrogate, Janice and her husband Phil decide to expand into the restaurant business: have they bitten off more than they can chew? Meanwhile Cissie's life is thrown into jeopardy when she encounters an old flame..."
"1957. Newly-wed Val Walker is looking forward to starting a family. Her best friend, the previously flighty Cissie, is expecting her second child, content to settle down to full-time motherhood. Their mutual friend Janice, is engaged to boyfriend Paul. But life doesn't always turn out as one would expect. Val doesn't find it as easy as she'd expected to fall pregnant. Cissie is jealous when her husband Walter takes an interest in a new female colleague. Janice feels guilty for leaving her widowed father and young brother behind in Blackpool to start a new life in Yorkshire. Are the three friends' marriages strong enough to survive these unexpected obstacles?"
"Having been recently widowed in her forties, shy Jane Redfern finally plucks up the courage to go on holiday alone. Embarking on a ten-day coach trip to Germany, the last thing she anticipates is to meet someone new and fall in love. But gradually she finds herself drawn to fellow passenger, Shropshire farmer Dave Falconer, who has also lost his partner. In the stunning Black Forest, her friendship with Dave looks set to blossom. But riddled with guilt at having to leave her cantankerous 85-year-old mother in a retirement home, Jane finds it impossible to imagine a new life with someone else. And there's something Dave hasn't been telling her…"
