Sunshine after Rain

For sixteen-year-old Mary Harris, growing up in Rotherhithe in 1934 has its ups and downs. She has a good job in a biscuit factory and a best friend, Liz, who's fun to be with, but she's worried about her younger brother Eddie. Eddie is a difficult child whose bad behaviour affects the whole family. Although Mary's stepfather Ted denies losing his temper with the boy, Mary's seen the bruises on Eddie's small body.

Young Pam King can't believe her ears when her Gran, Ivy, forbids her to see Robbie Bennetti. Pam and her mum live with Ivy in Rotherhithe, and Pam's always got on well with her gran. But she won't say why she's so against Robbie, except to announce that the Bennettis are a bad lot. But anyone can see that Robbie's a lovely lad - and not half as dangerous as cheeky Lu Cappa, who's always giving Pam the eye. When her best friend Jill falls in love, loneliness makes Pam accept a date with Lu.

It is 1919, and for Ruby Jenkins and her family, life isn’t easy. Ever since Ruby’s father returned from the war, shell-shocked and incapable of working, Ruby and her mother have had to sacrifice all comforts. However, amidst the bleak poverty of the Rotherhithe neighbourhood in which they live, Ruby manages to get a paid job at Stone’s Laundry. As things start to look up, Ruby starts dreaming of one day having a husband and children of her own. But sudden tragedy strikes.

It's1942, and Dolly dreams of distant lands. As the war rages on, excitement comes in the form of American GIs posted in London. Although Dolly is engaged to Tony, she can't help but fall in love with Joe, a dashing American.

Millie Ash, born into terrible poverty in the backstreets of the East End, has always wanted to better herself. She gets her chance when she lands a position as a lady’s companion, her charge the disabled daughter of a well-to-do London family. Millie adores her work, and even starts to develop feelings for the son of the house. But years later a tragic accident causes Millie to lose her job and, along with it, the life she so loved. As she goes from job to job, working variously as a typist, factory worker, and nurse, will she ever find happiness, and love, again?

It's late 1935, and Sue Carver is living with her parents in Rotherhithe, working in the office of a local car dealer. Pretty and vivacious, Sue has many admirers, but her main love is dancing. One night, a handsome new singer appears at the local dance hall, and Sue falls for him. But then he moves on. And then, just when things look like they could not be worse, tragedy strikes.

Standing on London’s Victoria docks with the wind biting through her shawl, Rose Munday realises she’s been abandoned by her sweetheart. She had risked everything to get to London, but, stumbling through the pea-soup fog, she has nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Scared and alone, Rose steps straight into danger, only to be rescued by two women with even less to their names - a woman of the night and her young sidekick, Sparrow. With only a cluster of love letters to her name and all hope of her sweetheart’s return fading, Rose finds herself forging a new life with her unlikely companions.

In 1950, after her marriage went badly wrong, Dolly Taylor returned to Rotherhithe from America. She is now helping her best friend, Penny, to walk again after she contracted polio. Not able to have children of her own, Dolly envies Penny for having a beautiful baby daughter, Gail. Penny's husband, Reg, has set up his own business as a builder and offers Dolly a job in the office. Tony, who was engaged to Dolly before the war, also works for Reg and is still pursuing his childhood sweetheart.

As the Second World War enters its final year, Ruth Bentley feels life has dealt her more than her fair share of trials and tribulations. For the second time she has lost her home in a bomb attack on Rotherhithe, and with her husband away fighting, her two daughters evacuated to Wales, and her mother killed and father seriously injured in the attack, Ruth is left to face the devastation alone. But Ruth finds friendship with Lucy, and both women dream of the day when they’ll be reunited with their loved ones.

When Polly Pritchard learns that her husband has been killed in action, she brings up their young daughter, Emmie, alone. To make ends meet, she gets a job at the Cherry Ballroom in West London, and it is here that she meets James, a Canadian airman, and they fall in love. But then Polly's husband turns up very much alive.... Life is even harder for Polly after the war. James has gone, her husband is involved in a criminal gang, and their daughter suffers from an illness that leaves her deaf.

When a naive encounter at a Coronation party leaves 16-year-old Janet Slater pregnant there's no question in her scandalised parents' mind of her keeping the baby. Bundled off to a home for unmarried mothers in South London, Janet is about to face the hardest moment of her sheltered life alone. Forced to give her tiny daughter up for adoption, Janet promises her that one day, come what may, she'll find her.

London, 1854: 20-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty-stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father's beck and call. Then, one night, she must transport a mysterious man from a foreign ship to the banks of the Thames, a man who ends up renting a room in Essie's house, identifying himself only as 'Raven'.

Identical twins Lily and Rose Flowers aren't from a rich family, but they lead a comfortable life in 1920s Rotherhithe with their mum and dad. The twins are the apple of their parents' eye, and each other's best friend - they always know what the other is thinking. Feisty Rose has a more rebellious nature than her sister, but it's never before interfered with their closeness. However, Rose's secret dissatisfaction with her humdrum lifestyle reaches a head when she meets the rich and handsome Rodger.

It's 1938, and Sarah Caselton is preparing for her new job at Woolworths. Before long she forms a tight bond with two of her colleagues, the glamorous Maisie and shy Freda, as well as beginning a blossoming romance with young assistant manager Alan. But with the threat of war clouding the horizon, the young employees of Woolworths realize that there are bigger battles ahead. It's a dangerous time for the nation and an even more perilous time to fall in love....

September 1941. Mary arrives in war-torn London nursing a broken heart and a painful secret. When she is offered her dream post as an assistant in the fabric department at Liberty store, she knows this is the fresh start she needs. Amid the store’s vibrant prints and sumptuous interiors, Mary finds a new family who can help her to heal. But not everyone will give Mary such a warm welcome, and the trauma of her past will soon catch up with her. As Mary and the Liberty Girls endure the heartache and uncertainty of war, it will take a steady heart to keep the magic of Christmas alive.