In 1938, eighteen-year-old Phyllis Ellsworth packs her bags, says goodbye to her anxious parents and sets off from her quiet seaside home for the Hackney Hospital in London's bustling East End, where she is to fulfill her dream to train as a nurse. At first, it is a whirlwind of long days, hard work, new friends and plenty of mischief, but just ten months later Britain declares war on Germany and life at the hospital is transformed. Phyll's days become an endless cycle of air-raid sirens, injured servicemen and anxiously waiting for news of loved ones. And when she falls in love with a handsome young solider, Alistair, Phyll's work provides the only distraction from worrying about his safety.