Kathy Leigh never knew her mother. Raised by her reserved father and loving aunt in 1950s' Blackpool, she has had a happy childhood. It is a time of glamour and excitement as families and individuals struggle to mend the bonds broken by the recent war.

But then Kathy uncovers the shocking secret which threatens to blow the family apart and could take her far away from Blackpool and from everything she has ever known, all the way to America - if she is willing to take the chance.