Anne is the youngest of the eight Fitzgerald children, loved and petted by her older brothers and sisters and secure amid their extended family in Liverpool's Everton district. When Sarah Redmond introduces Anne to her brother John, there is an unspoken attraction between them, but John goes to Spain to fight with the International Brigade. Only when war breaks out do they marry and have three children, with whom Anne hopes to recreate her happy childhood home. But John is busy pursuing his own ambitions, and Anne wonders if she will ever live in the nest of singing birds she dreams of.