When Helen disappears after a domestic violence episode and Jim, her abusive alcoholic husband, is later killed, their 13-year-old son, Bill, is left to run wild. Quick and resourceful, with help from his frail Uncle Paddy and the indomitable Aunty Jessie, he looks after his younger sister, Lizzie, to avoid her being taken into care. Helen's whereabouts are eventually discovered and a former 'digger', Jack, Helen's friend from her teenage...