It is wartime and Miranda, little cockney orphan Ted and Roberta (Bobbie) have been evacuated to an old-fashioned household in the country. Despite the war, the children's time spent with two unmarried sisters at their rectory is idyllic and turns their underprivileged lives into something very near to heaven.
But when the local Committee for Evacuation objects to the spinsters' attempt to adopt all three children, it is Bobbie who is reluctantly sent away to grow up in very different circumstances. And before long, all three children who have come to think of themselves as a family are parted - seemingly forever.
After the war, and purely by chance, the three are reunited. Miranda, now a beautiful model, wonders whether she is in love with Teddy, who has become an aspiring young photographer. But Teddy can only think of her as his sister, having fallen for Bobbie, who has given her heart to the mysterious Julian during a halcyon summer by the sea. There are many intriguing complications and hearts are destined to be broken before a dramatic conclusion can be reached.