The year is 1940 and Bill and Marion Whittaker live happily with their five children in a terraced house on Albert Road in Birmingham. But when Bill enlists to fight in the Second World War, the family are plunged into poverty. Marion is forced to pawn all her worldly possessions and decides to take in two lodgers Peggy Wagstaffe and Violet Clooney. These two lively girls offer some light relief to the family and bring with them Peggy's handsome brother Sam - who catches the eye of Marion's sixteen-year-old daughter, Sarah.