War touches everyone. Reeling from a broken heart, army nurse Nora Russell boards a troop ship in Boston, destination unknown. Assigned to a hospital in Wales treating shell shock (PTSD) patients, she experiences the consequences of war. Nora's work intensifies when she transfers to a neuropsychiatry center in England. There, Nora meets a British psychiatrist who intrigues her and makes her wonder if she can ever love again. Back home, Nora's mother, Ellen, tries to remain positive with her children away at war, but she has promised to tell Nora everything. Soon, Ellen is facing her older sister's cancer battle and a nephew missing in action. Then, when a long-buried family secret surfaces, her life becomes upended. Nora's best friend, Louise Baker, doesn't understand why everyone leaves her-her parents are gone, and her husband's in the infantry. Raising a toddler alone, she needs to find a job to keep her sanity. Then she receives a dreaded telegram. The intertwining stories of three women's lives, told through their correspondence, reveal the courage, compassion, and resilience necessary to endure the darkest days of World War II.