Sarah-Jane escapes her abusive mother to get out of doing the washing. But she unexpectedly meets local farmer's son, Terry. Unaware the repercussions will follow her throughout her life, she falls in love. But her dreams of a perfect future turn to dust when she finds herself pregnant, just as Terry announces he is to marry someone else. Sarah -Jane has always been looked down on for being one of the drunken jailbird Sid Holbrook's scruffy brood . It only made her determined she was one day going to make something of herself. But suddenly the dread of what might happen to her child makes her act rashly. The consequences of that action lead Sarah-Jane into a situation she could never have envisaged, showing her the the other side of life to her penniless childhood. But to live that life Sarah-Jane must keep a very close secret.