Elizabeth’s husband John Andrew MacDonald was killed in action in December and she is distraught, as he didn’t have to go, he volunteered, as did many men to join the army.

However though he had been officially recorded as dead he was still alive but so disfigured that he didn’t want to go home to his wife feeling that she was young and could rebuild her life. He made the doctor swear not to tell anyone that he had survived telling him that as far as his wife was concerned he was officially dead.

However, unbeknown to him Elizabeth is bearing his child. A close friend Mr Hamilton is very kind to Elizabeth and though she tells him she can never love anyone like her husband she agrees to marry him and she names her child Drew Hamilton.

The story spans the years of Drew growing up and the anguish to her mother when he wants to enlist for World War II. John has assumed another identity and made friends with his doctor whose daughter he later adopts. His life crosses with Elizabeth and she suspects his true identity.

Natalie Wood is six years old in this story where she plays the part of Margaret.