Sadie was born in a shabby room in a run-down terraced house in the dock-land area of Liverpool, on a cold November night in 1914. While her mother, young Irish girl named Mary Kelly anxiously awaited the return of her English soldier. It was a time when Great Britain and Germany were in the throes of a bloodied conflict on the fields of France. Both countries sending thousands of patriotic young men into the savageness of battle and certain death. These courageous soldiers marched off to war with a song in their hearts and visions of early victory. Yet, there would be no quick end to the confrontation across the English Channel. The war in Europe would last for four long years. For the women left behind it was a time of worry and heartache and most often, their lives were fraught with destitution and despair.

Yet, all were hopeful that their men folk would return unharmed. Mary was one of these women but she would wait in vain. Little Sadie would never know the brave young man who had fathered her. Sadie struggles to overcome fear and heartache when sickness claims the life of her beloved mother. Bewildered and afraid, she is taken across the Irish Sea to the sanctuary of her grandmother, but with the passing of time, again faces heartache and sorrow. Her youth and inexperience compel her to make a dreadful mistake that will come back to haunt her a mistake that will cost her dearly, with devastating results. She endures hardships that render her helpless and despairing, when left destitute and alone yet finds an inner strength to survive through friendships that help her cope with the grim realities of the predicament she has been forced into. These friendships withstand the test of time, in an era when poverty and strife rips at the very heart of the poorer classes of England's population.

Her courage is tested yet again when least expected. Her terror begins during the atrocities and evils of another armed conflict, another war that will plunge the entire world into complete and utter turmoil again. A monstrous war, pitting men against men in bitter and inhumane acts of suffering and cruelty, a brutal war that would last for six agonizing years.