Next door to the Johnsons live Lottie Curtis, a kind-hearted window they have taken under their wing. For decades Lottie has been foster mother to children from broken homes. Only Jimmy Bailey has ever demonstrated in a practical way the debt he owed to Lottie-until the war intervened and he was called up. But it's 1946 and Lottie is facing her eightieth birthday alone with ony the memories of those children she's loved over the years. When Jimmy, now demobbed, teams up with Lana to organise a reunion of all the old lady's children as a birthday treat, there's more than one surprise in store.