London, 1934. Clever young civil servant Doreen Bates is working in the same office as E, an older married man. In the years just before the war, they strike up a passionate affair. Doreen records it all with startling candor in her diary--secret midnight walks, countryside escapades, and stolen moments of intimacy. But, despite all the taboos of the time, and against his wishes, she is determined to have a child with E--even though she knows that...