It's the final year of training for three young nurses at The Nightingale Hospital. Helen is at a crossroads in her life as she battles with her domineering mother over both her love life and her future career. Dora can't stop loving Nick, who is married to her best friend, Ruby. Millie is anxious about her fiancé, sent to Spain to cover the Civil War, and things only get worse when she encounters a fortune teller who gives her a sinister warning.

Three very different girls sign up as trainee nurses at a big London teaching hospital in 1934. Dora leaves her overcrowded, squalid working-class home for a better life. But has she got what it takes to keep up with other, better-educated girls? And will her hated stepfather ever let her go? Helen is born for the job; her brother is a doctor, her all-powerful mother a hospital trustee. But will Helen’s secret misery be her downfall? An aristocratic rebel, Millie’s carefree attitude will find her up in front of Matron again and again. Will she ever care enough to make a nurse? Or will she go back to the glamorous life she was born to?

Dora and her old enemy Lucy are paired up on the children's ward for the final three months of their training. The two nurses couldn't seem more different, but they may have more in common than they think, as each hides a secret heartache. And there are new faces. Jess is the feisty eldest daughter of a notorious East End family and determined to prove herself as a ward maid. New trainee nurse Effie can't wait to escape her small Irish village, and make her way as a nurse in London.

As the war takes its toll, the Nightingale nurses must do their bit for king and country... Dora is the devoted mother of twin babies, but, determined to help the war effort, she goes back to work at the Nightingale Hospital. More used to nights out in the West End, Jennifer and Cissy volunteer in the hope of tending to handsome soldiers. They soon find out that nursing isn’t quite what they were expecting.

As Christmas 1938 approaches, the staff at the Nightingale Hospital have their own wishes for the festive season. Ward sister Frannie Wallace is hoping she won't have to live through another war like the one that claimed her fiance. Staff Nurse Helen Dawson wants to find happiness again after the death of her husband Charlie. But is she looking for love in the wrong place? Matron Kathleen Fox struggles to keep up morale.

It's Christmas 1941, and the nurses at the Nightingale are facing their toughest winter yet. With shortages everywhere and every news bulletin announcing more losses, the British people are weary and demoralised, and The Nightingale Hospital is suffering too. Millie is recently widowed and dealing with the demands of her family's estate. It's not long before her old world of the Nightingale begins to beckon, along with a long-lost love.... Jess is struggling with her move from East London to the countryside.

London, 1914. While young men enlist up and down the country, the Nightingale Hospital has its own set of new recruits.... Anna Beck is the daughter of the best baker in Bethnal Green. Her German father built the business out of nothing, but as the shadow of war descends, his fate is at the mercy of their neighbours. Meanwhile Katie Carlyle has always wanted to become a doctor. She fought hard to get into medical school, and even now she faces prejudice from her fellow students as well as the tutors. Can she prove them wrong?

Matron Kathleen Fox has the job of putting the hospital back together but wonders if she is up to the task. In an attempt to bring some festive cheer, she decides to put on a Christmas show. The idea is greeted with mixed feelings by the nurses, who all have their own problems, and also by the new Assistant Matron and ward sister, who find themselves rivals for the role of organiser. But as rehearsals begin, the performers begin to find the show is not just a tonic for the patients.

Janey is 18 and living in a small flat with her baby daughter. Just as her new life starts to show promise, her past catches up with her. Nicole is renting one of the new luxury flats. She’s just walked away from her husband and teenage sons, tired of being treated as a servant, suspecting her husband of having an affair. Winifred has lived in her large family home for over 80 years but it’s all getting too much, though she doesn’t want to leave. Things are not what they seem, and danger can strike both rich and poor.

West Yorkshire, 1926. After completing her training in Steeple Street, Agnes is looking forward to making her mark as the village's first district nurse, confident she can make a difference in the locals' lives. But when she arrives, she's treated with suspicion, labelled just another servant of the wealthy mine owners. The locals would much rather place their trust in the resident healer, Nella Black.

Nell has come to feel very at home in her beautiful corner of Wiltshire with her partner, Angus. What she could do with, however, is a challenge, and the prospect of bringing life back to an abandoned row of houses, Saffron Lane, is just what she’s looking for. Stacy, lost and alone after a divorce she didn’t see coming, is trying her best to start over. And Elise, battling her nieces who would force her into residential care, longs for a home where she can get back to her painting. When their paths cross, the future starts to look brighter - although not all goes according to plan.

The houses in Saffron Lane are being filled with artists thanks to the efforts of Nell and Angus. Ginger doesn’t win a place there but gets a job running the small café/art gallery, taking refuge there from her abusive bully of a son. When she meets Iain, sparks fly between them, the first time she’s felt attracted to anyone for years. But will her son spoil it? 

Christmas Eve, 1936. On a foggy December night, a pregnant woman walks out in front of a trolley bus and is knocked unconscious. She is rushed to the Nightingale hospital, and a healthy baby is delivered. But the mother claims to have lost her memory, and cannot believe that the child is hers. It seems that the Nightingale nurses may need to perform a Christmas miracle.

When Sally, Beth, Margaret and Rachel meet at a job interview for the wonderful new store in Oxford Street, they have no idea they will become lifelong friends. When all four girls are lucky enough to be selected as sales staff their exciting new adventure begins. Join them as they overcome heartbreak and grief, find love and happiness and remain united in their friendship, whatever life throws at them.

1945 - the war in Europe is over. It should be a time of utter joy and celebration. Most women can't wait for their men to return, but in the small town of Rivenshaw in Lancashire, Judith Crossley fears having her husband back in the house. He'd grown into a bully and a drunkard, and on the occasions he'd come home from leave, he'd hit her. He wasn't a good father, either. Luckily Judith has found an unlikely ally, a friend to turn to - Maynard Esher, from an old aristocratic family on the other side of town.