It's 1925, and when Carrie McDarmount's sister Renee marries Walter Sutton, Carrie is delighted, for the two families have always been close - the children are all similar in age and their fathers work together in the Wearmouth colliery in Sunderland. But an incident on the eve of the wedding leaves Carrie pregnant and desperately ashamed of the secret she now carries. When Harry Sutton, who has always loved Carrie, discovers her plight, he volunteers to marry her and bring up the baby as his own. Their secret will inevitably come out in the end and there is much heartache ahead before Carrie can finally be happy and content with the man she loves.