It's 1945. World War II has just ended and twelve-year-old Rusty comes back home to Britain after being evacuated to the US.

The greyness and bleakness of life in England is a shock, but even worse is adapting to the strict discipline of her family, including a brother she's never met, after the warmth and openness of her adopted American family.

Rusty is sent to an horrific boarding school, before finally running away as her search for happiness becomes more and more desperate.