Nadine Crichton is a glamorous thirty-something woman of the eighties, running a successful business with her friend Pat. But is it enough? Orphaned as a young adult, she longs to have a family to belong to. She's not the sort to act on a whim, but as 1987 gets underway and heralds a whole series of disasters from the Zebrugge ferry sinking to the King's Cross fire, that's just what she does. Surely this look-alike woman from years ago must be a relative. Her search leads her first to a small English village, where she finds unexpected complications in the person of local farmer Josh Reynolds. She's not looking for another failure at love, and he's clearly not interested, or so she thinks. Her discovery of a link to Alice brings unwelcome publicity about her past, but spurs Nadine on to visit France and Switzerland to reveal the full story of her great aunt's courage and uncover secrets that go back to both world wars. As she comes to know and understand this lost relative she gains a new perspective on her own losses and re-examines her priorities.