Even in the hardest lives, some light must shine. Violet Clancy can take no more of her brutal stepfather's attentions, so when he meets a tragic end she feels justice has been done. Looking around the bleak and pitiless Black Country town of Wednesbury, she realises that there are many other wrongs that she could help to put right. Joining a coterie of women who call themselves the Wednesbury Wives, Violet and her friends are determined to win justice for the abused. Their mission is to bring a little light into the hardest lives. Before long the wives find laughter and romance in their close-knit town. But will their friendships survive when some of their good deeds are brought into doubt, and some of their methods are called into question? And is justice always worth it, no matter what the price?