It is 1958. Elizabeth has been sent away from her London home to the beautiful Hartland House in Sussex. Over an idyllic summer by the coast, she grows close to the confident young Shaws, who treat her like one of their own. A lovely but innocent girl, Elizabeth is ready to fall in love - but her dreams are dangerously naive. Decades later, Elizabeth's daughter Addie is stunned when a stranger appears on her doorstep, claiming that they are sisters. Addie doesn't believe it. Until her beloved father admits that everything she's been told about her early life is a lie. For Addie and her new sister Phoebe it's the beginning of an emotional journey back to a time of fallen women and domineering fathers, as they discover the extraordinary truth about how their lives began.