Alys is an orphan, raised by her grandfather in a mining town in South Wales. Determined to escape her fate, she believes she has found the means when she meets and falls in love with the son of the mine owner.

But when Monsieur de Rohan has his son kidnapped and shipped to New Zealand, Alice is left at the altar, alone and miserable.

Then she meets Tom, a Geordie who has come to Merthyr Tydfil on his way to Barry, who falls in love with Alys and marries her in the knowledge that she carries another man’s child.

But the birth of her twins comes with complications, and as the girls get older, things start to fall apart. Will their family ever be able to rebuild their relationships? And will Alice ever be able to stop looking back at what might have been?