Judith Dunbar's parents emigrate with her little sister to live in Singapore and leave Judith behind to attend a boarding school, where she meets Loveday, an irrepressible, impetuous character. Loveday takes her to her family home at Nancherrow and Judith is captivated by her fun loving family. They are separated by the war and tragedy strikes them both but later they are reunited at Nancherrow and both find their happy ever after.

The story of their tragic war years is quite thought provoking, although Judith personally seems a fairly unemotional person and seems to recover very quickly from the terrible events.