On Christmas morning, in the unforgiving harshness of a convent in Galway, Kitty Doherty gives birth to a baby, who is immediately taken away for adoption in America. But Kitty's life is hanging by a thread, her only hope a dangerous journey through the ice and snow to Ballymara and her Irish family.

Mary Kate Malone has come to Liverpool from Ireland to seek her fortune, but from the very beginning things have gone wrong. Now she is living secretly with her great love, Dr Nicholas Marcus, while his wife Lavinia, mother of his two sons, plots her revenge on the girl who she believes has destroyed her marriage. When disaster strikes, Mary Kate's first instinct is to flee to her family in Ireland. But back in Tarabeg, a charismatic American stranger...

Christmas may be the season of goodwill, festive cheer and family cheer for some - but not for the poor of 1950s Liverpool. And for St Angelus Hospital in Lovely Lane, it is frantically busy. There are the old, the dying, the children - and the emergencies. The nurses, known locally as the Angels of Lovely Lane, are run off their feet. Dana, Beth, Pammy and Victoria hardly have time to catch their breath, let alone have a Christmas of their own.

The FitzDeanes are powerful. They have estates in England, a castle in Ireland and a growing shipping business in Liverpool. But in Ireland, during the famine, a great and terrible mistake was made, which has come to haunt the family for generations. Now young Ruby Flynn, rescued when the rest of her family died during the storms of 1947, reared and educated by nuns, arrives at Ballyford Castle, to work as a nursery maid. It is a fateful turning point...

Liverpool, 1966. Sisters Carol and Jackie haven't had the easiest of childhoods, but as they grow up and begin their own lives both hope for happier times ahead. Stylish Carol works in Lewis's department store, while Jackie dreams of drama school, and a career on the stage. But the sisters are heartbroken when they discover they have been dating the same man, and an unexpected pregnancy causes a rift between them. Parents Dora and Joe must overcome...

It's 1925 and Patricia, Tara and Aideen couldn't be more excited about leaving Dublin with their father and heading for a new life in Liverpool. Yet it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems, for the day after they arrive in England, Bernie hastily sweeps the girls onto a huge ocean liner heading to New York, leaving no forwarding address. When their father vanishes mid-way across the Atlantic, the grieving sisters prepare themselves for a...

Amy is torn from her home by her rich aunt, a woman obsessed by religion and snobbery who wants a girl she can mould as she wishes. It is the beginning of a long journey for Amy, as she desperately searches for the family she lost, and a home where she can be free at last from her aunt's possessive tyranny.

Her mother called her Angel but now she's a fallen woman. There are different opinions as to what happened to Evangeline O'Leary's mother. Her younger sisters believe the story that she's in heaven. But Evie has heard the gossips - that her ma upped and left with the man she had an affair with while Evie's dad was fighting in the war. As the eldest, Evie has become 'mum' to her three siblings, all while holding down a job at the Tate & Lyle Sugar...

55-year-old Georgie Turner doesn't need a new man. Her daughter, aunt and sister are the most important people in her life (and the most infuriating). But it seems the older they get, the further apart they drift. Georgie's never been a fan of her sister Bonnie's husband, so when she learns her brother-in-law has been up to no good, Georgie sees an opportunity to bring the women of her family back together. Along with her 21-year-old daughter and...

Liverpool, 1955. With her abusive husband drinking all her wages, Alice faces a daily struggle to provide for her family. Her eldest daughter Cathy has always longed to be a nurse, but when poverty means she's forced to leave school and get a job it looks like her dreams are over. But Cathy isn't willing to give up, and with the support of old friend - and new love - Gianni, she manages to secure a place as a cadet nurse. Now, though, her mam must...