1922. After the horrors of the Great War, the close-knit Truscott family returns to everyday life on their busy Hampshire farm. The two Truscott sisters are on very different paths. Kate is happily married to Albert, content to be a mother and farmer's wife. Her younger sister Dot sets her heart on becoming a teacher. But an unforeseen tragedy means Dot must give up her place at college. Instead she resigns herself to becoming a lady's companion to wealthy Mrs Humboldt, who is a difficult woman to please. Accompanying Mrs Humboldt to Eastbourne, Dot enters an intoxicating new world of cocktails, circuses and dance halls, a life far removed from her quiet Hampshire village. And she soon catches the eye of a sophisticated seducer. Dot must quickly learn the ways of the world if she is to forge her own path, on her own terms.