When Dawn Stephens' parents are killed in an accident, she is transplanted from her home in Canada to the small seaside town of Sturvendor in Somerset, to live with her uncle and aunt. She makes friends with her cousin Serena, and soon settles in well at the local school, but Dawn still feels very alone in this strange new world. Then three things happen: she discovers a glorious secret bay which she makes her own; she meets the charismatic Sandy Collins, and she falls in love with the theatre, determining to become an actress. Over the course of the next few years - the heady, excitement-filled '60s - Dawn's life is changed forever.