When a naïve encounter at a coronation party leaves sixteen-year-old Janet Slater pregnant, there’s no question in her scandalized parents’ minds of her keeping the baby. Bundled off to a home for unmarried mothers in South London, Janet is about to face the hardest moment of her sheltered life alone. Forced to give her tiny daughter up for adoption, Janet promises her that one day, come what may, she’ll find her.

In the years that follow, it seems that however hard Janet tries, it is a promise that is impossible to keep. Nonetheless, she builds her life around her secret, and Paula, her lost daughter, is never far from her thoughts. Finally, her searching pays off, and the road to their longed-for reunion seems clear—but then a new shadow falls across the fragile happiness of both their lives.