When Former GI Bride, Emma Fulton, is forced to flee penniless From the United States in 1954, she seeks out the husband and child of her recently deceased friend and half-sister. Seamlessly she is absorbed into their lives as both wife and mother. When her new husband dies she suddenly finds herself inheriting the family construction business which is winning contracts in London's East end as it emerges from the ravages of war. As a woman in a testosterone driven male environment, Emma finds herself thrust into a brutal world of corruption, politics and power. Faced with a crippling strike, she allows herself to be helped by a local crime syndicate boss and is soon drawn into a torrid affair which blurs her judgement and threatens to destroy her family.