Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother and older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Unaware of the effect she has on men, Vera invites the unwanted attention of Alfred Lovell, with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant, Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy, Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution, only to face the toughest decision a mother could ever make ...