A Tale of Two Cities

Follow the lives, loves and highs and lows of four members of the Women's Land Army who are working at the Hoxley Estate during World War II.

The Larkin family lives in rural idyll in 1950s England. Father Larkin never pays his bills, but the big, sprightly family is never short of money. Father Larkin is always working on a new plan to provide the family with cash.

The lives and loves of the men of RAF Hornet Squadron who are transferred to France at the outbreak of World Wat II in September 1939. For the most part the men are competent fliers but there is little action in the first several months. The men wile away their time with some engaging in dangerous stunts while others woo some of the local lasses. The phony war comes to an end in April 1940 and the Battle of Britain begins. By September that year, few of them are left and despite their success, few see themselves as heroes.

It's 1943 and the American Air Force has come to Market Weatherby, a small East Anglian town. The war weary British and the brash American GIs sometimes clash, but friendships are also forged.

Harriet Smith (Pauline Collins), the new British ambassador to Ireland, desperately wants to make her mark in this historically-difficult posting and try to put her husband's tragic murder behind her. She wants to be just and fair in her dealings with the Irish government and try to make the relationship between the two governments less adversarial in nature. The situation is made considerably worse for her and her trusted assistant John Stone (Denis Lawson) by her son Nate, who refuses to accept the consequences of her new ambassadorial role and still blames her for his father's death.

Three young women from very different backgrounds meet, become friends and share experiences when they all gain positions as nannies in the wealthy households of London's exclusive Berkeley Square.