Making it in Balham is set in London during 1958 against a backdrop of slum clearance and post war building. There are riots at Notting Hill and racial tension is rife. Despite all this, the prime minister announced the previous year that most of our people have never had it so good. In many ways, this is true. The economy, so set back during the austerity of the post war years is booming. There is an underlining feeling of optimism as Britain heads towards the 1960s.
We meet the ambitious Agnes aware of these changes but feeling left behind. She strives to break from her working class roots through education and elocution lessons; she is a typist and wishes for a better lifestyle with the least effort on her part. She wants to make her mark, to become someone of consequence, and perhaps even famous.
We then meet Inga who is different in every way to Agnes. Inga from Denmark works as a housekeeper to a man of business known to her as Mr Brown. The two women become friends, and Agnes takes advantage of free accommodation when she discovers Mr Brown disappeared several weeks before, leaving Inga in charge of his apartment.
Several unsettling events occur after they move in that has them seeking answers.