Ellie Dean

In defending herself against her brutal husband, eighteen-year-old Ruby Clark is forced to flee London.

She has no idea where Cliffehaven is, or what she will find there, but she knows that she will never be able to return home again.

At first it seems she's fallen on her feet. She gets a job at the local armaments factory, and the couple she is billeted with are kind and supportive. But when her host makes advances, Ruby is left homeless once more.

Until Peggy Reilly welcomes her into the warmth of Beach View boarding house and Ruby dares to hope for a brighter future…

As the Japanese begin their assault on Singapore, Sarah Fuller and her sister are forced to leave their parents behind. They arrive in Cliffehaven, on the south coast of England, and here Sarah must find work to support them both. As time goes on and the news of events in Singapore worsen, Sarah fears she will never see her fiancé, Philip and her parents again.

Cliffehaven, June 1944. As the planes continue to circle over Cliffehaven, Peggy Reilly's sister Doris must seek refuge after a V-1 blast destroys her home. Rita, Sarah and the other residents at Beach View Boarding House quickly find their peace disturbed and it's not long before even Peggy loses her patience. But with more bad news to come, will Doris finally be forced to swallow her pride?

Meanwhile Peggy's father-in-law Ron Reilly is delighted when his sweetheart Rosie returns home. Until a heart-breaking confession suggests things may never be the same between them.

With loved ones scattered far and wide across the globe, and tensions running high, the end of the war feels somehow further than ever. And yet with the long-awaited Allied invasion in sight, a glimmer of light is starting to break through…

It is 1940 and Staff Nurse Polly Brown has had to part with her beloved five-year-old daughter, Alice, who is travelling to safety in Canada. Polly's heart is torn in two and she throws herself into her work at Cliffehaven Hospital. But then a telegram arrives; the boat Alice was on has been torpedoed by a German U-boat....

Peace has finally been declared in the Far East, but for those living at Beach View Boarding House, the news brings mixed emotions. Peggy Reilly is devastated that her husband Jim will not be coming home for Christmas. And Sarah and Jane, who have lived at Beach View throughout much of the conflict, dread what they will find when they go back to Singapore. Life in Cliffehaven is in a whirlwind of change as the men return from the war and Peggy's evacuee chicks begin to spread their wings and start new lives in different corners of the world. Peggy and Jim have longed to be together after so many years apart, but war has left them profoundly changed. Can they rekindle the loving, close relationship they'd shared before?

June 1940. Despite losing her mother at a young age and with her father away on important war work, seventeen-year-old Rita Smith has plenty of people to turn to in the close-knit community of Cliffehaven. As war rages across Europe, Rita volunteers as a fire warden, longing for the day when she can be reunited with those she loves best...

Cliffehaven, December 1946. From a hill above the town of Cliffehaven, a young woman makes a heart-breaking choice that will change the course of her life forever.

Hours later, a baby is found in the Nativity crib of the local church. Who could have left him there, and why?

The mystery preoccupies everyone in Cliffehaven - not least Peggy Reilly, who has enough to contend with at Beach View Boarding House without this extra secret to unravel.

What's certain is that the whole community will pull together to keep the baby safe - and to support his mother when the truth of her identity is finally discovered...

Cliffehaven, October 1944. As the Allied troops draw closer to victory, life at Beach View Boarding House is still full of uncertainty

Rosie's plans for her wedding to Ron Reilly are plagued with misunderstandings. And when Ron takes on a secret assignment just days before they are due to say their vows, it seems their plans for a future together may be doomed.

Meanwhile, Peggy Reilly embraces her new managerial role at the uniform factory. It's a welcome distraction while her husband Jim is still away fighting in the Far East. But when an old school adversary joins the factory's ranks, Peggy must win her own battles on the home front.

As a new year dawns, hopes grow brighter for the return of loved ones - but a big sea change is still to come before Victory in Europe can be declared.

Cliffehaven, 1946. The war is over and those who have spent years fighting behind enemy lines are finally coming home. Peggy Reilly is over the moon that her husband Jim is safely back from Burma. But after the horrors he has endured, adjusting to life at Beach View will not be easy. Can he and Peggy find a way through?

Meanwhile evacuee Ruby Clark has much to contend with when her estranged mother turns up, having completed a long prison sentence. There is huge heartache still to come for Ruby, and she will need her Beach View family more than ever. Will the sanctuary of home give them each the strength they need to face the challenges ahead?

After the death of her parents in a bombing raid, Mary Jones discovers a secret in the pages of father's diaries. Her search for the truth brings her to Cliffehaven on the south coast.

Here, she finds work at the Kodak factory, sifting through the Airgraphs which are being sent from all over the world by the men and women in the armed forces, and by their loved ones. All the while she longs for news of her own sweetheart, fighting in Europe.

With the help of Peggy Reilly and her family at Beach View Boarding House Mary starts to build a new life for herself.

But events that happened eighteen years before still echo, and should a promise Peggy made then be broken, it will have a devastating affect not only on Mary, but them all…

Nineteen-year-old April Wilton has just enlisted in the WRENs in Portsmouth, where she works servicing engines on ships.

She finds herself immersed in dockyard life and surrounded by soldiers - from England and America. The atmosphere is one of spontaneity and impulsiveness, brought on by the unpredictability of war. So when April meets Daniel, a young American soldier, whose mother is Sioux and father is of African descent, she doesn't hesitate when she starts to fall for him. The attraction is immediate, and coming from strict racial segregation in South Carolina, Daniel finds the freedom he has in England overwhelming.

Daniel and April endeavour to spend as much time together as possible - every moment is precious with the threat of Daniel being sent to fight overseas looming over them.

But with war and race both involved, their relationship was never going to be simple... 

May 1942. Kitty Pargeter loves the life she's leading as a talented young pilot, serving her country.

But tragedy strikes when she is forced to crash-land and is badly injured.

She is taken to a specialist hospital in Cliffehaven, where she must come to terms with the disabling injury that threatens her career. Then comes the shattering news that her beloved brother has been shot down and presumed dead. And she wonders if she'll able to find the courage and fortitude to carry on.

As Kitty slowly recovers - with the help of Peggy Reilly and her family at Beach View boarding house - she is more determined than ever to return to the job she loves, whatever it takes.

It's 1943 and Peggy Reilly is at her best when the troubles of war come knocking at the door of Beach View Boarding House - especially when it concerns her younger sister, Doreen.

Doreen is divorced from Eddie, but his letters have taken on a more threatening tone of late. When Doreen barely survives a traumatic disaster whilst on leave in London, she returns home to Peggy and Cliffehaven in the hope that the love and comfort she will find there can help her recover.

However, Eddie continues to be an unsettling reminder of her past - and Doreen's life is about to change dramatically.

Sixteen-year-old Sally is evacuated to Cliffehaven on the south coast, and is terrified by what lies ahead of her. But when she is welcomed by the open-hearted Reilly family, life begins to improve. Then her mother Florrie arrives, bringing disaster with her, and Sally is forced to work out where her true loyalties lie....

When Commander Martin Black is shot down over enemy territory and ends up in a POW camp, his wife Anne comes back from the country to live with her mother, Peggy Reilly at Beach View Boarding House whilst they wait for news...

Slapton Sands, 1943. War has not been kind to Carol Porter. It took her husband and baby, and with them her heart. At last she's found some peace, working as a land girl at Coombe Farm. But Carol's sanctuary, the whole local area in fact, is about to be disrupted.

When Pauline Reilly hears Carol's news she's worried for her little sister. But as rumours about Slapton Sands reach Cliffehaven, Pauline can't help be more concerned for her only surviving son. And despite her sister-in-law Peggy's best efforts, nothing soothes Pauline's fears.

As Carol prepares to face the impending upheaval alone her beloved mother, Dolly, swoops in to Slapton, and packing up Carol's life presents unexpected opportunities for them both: Carol looks to her future while Dolly confronts a ghost from her past, and they both have a chance to mend their broken hearts.

February 1941. Julie Harris is working in London's East End as a midwife when a bombing raid destroys her family and the house she grew up in. All she has left is her motherless baby nephew William.

Determined to uphold her promise to her sister to keep William safe until his father, Bill, returns from the war, she accepts a post as a midwife in Cliffehaven on the south-coast of England. Here they are taken under the wing of the Reilly family at the Beach View boarding house.

But all too soon Julie learns that Bill is 'missing in action' and William falls dangerously ill. As she begins the long vigil by William's beside, she fears she will lose the little boy she has grown to love as her own…

It is 1942 and England is at war. Mary Jones has just celebrated her eighteenth birthday and said goodbye to her childhood sweetheart Jack, when she learns that her house has taken a direct hit during a tip and run raid.

With both her parents dead and her home destroyed, a distraught Mary moves in with Jack's parents. But her father's trunk is still intact amid the ruins, and Mary discovers a shocking secret amongst his diaries.

Mary travels to Cliffehaven on the south coast in search of answers. Here she is billeted with 
Peggy Reilly's fearsome sister, Doris. When warm-hearted Peggy befriends Mary, she discovers the young woman's secret.

But she begins to regret getting involved, for there can only be trouble ahead...

Cliffehaven, 1945. The war in Europe is over, but for Peggy Reilly and the residents of Beach View Boarding House the effects of the conflict are still far-reaching.

Cockney evacuee, Ivy, and her sweetheart, Andy, are saving to get married and fulfil their dream of returning to the East End. But when tragedy strikes, Ivy is faced with a life-changing dilemma that only she can resolve.

Rita also faces an impossible choice when her sweetheart Peter proposes and asks her to live with him in Australia - just as her widowed father returns from the fighting in Europe.

Meanwhile Peggy must say goodbye to several of her evacuee chicks whilst she awaits the return of her family from Somerset and the news that her husband, Jim, can finally come home. It's a dream she's held onto for six long years, but fate has one more twist in store.

Cliffehaven, May 1944. The tension is rising for Peggy Reilly and the inhabitants of Cliffehaven as the planes continue to roar above the town and there is still no news of the long-awaited Allied invasion into France. There seems to be no end in sight of this war which has scattered her family and brought conflict right to the door of Beach View Boarding House, but Peggy cannot work miracles and the toll of the war is beginning to weigh on her slender shoulders.

Meanwhile, Ron Reilly has landed himself in hot water with his sweetheart, Rosie - and this time, his Irish charm will not be enough to get him out of trouble.

The war has forever changed the lives of Peggy's loved ones, but with the promise of an Allied invasion comes the hope that her beloved husband and family will at last be coming home. It will take an enormous amount of spirit to keep that hope alive and bring harmony back to Beach View.