Ruby Maclean's family live respectably in a close-knit community in Glasgow. With their fair share of trouble and laughter, the Macleans, unknowingly are in crisis As the Second World War looms, Ruby, at seventeen, falls pregnant and marries Gerry Reilly, a drinker. When Gerry goes to war, Ruby must cope alone. And when Sarah, her mother dies, a series of events almost tears the family apart. Then, after Gerry's return from the war - their marriage ended by drink - Ruby builds a new life for herself and her daughter. Many years later, living by the sea, Ruby discovers, by chance, the many secrets in her family. But the final pieces in her family jigsaw, are a shocking realisation of its deceptions and lies...