Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, but her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to a hero’s welcome. Instead, he endures second class status. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer's daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.