In September 1939, fourteen-year-old Vinny Matthews leaves Liverpool to go and live with an elderly aunt on the Isle of Anglesey. At first Vinny hates everything about Wales and the farm, and she especially dislikes her Aunt Non, an embittered former teacher who is determined to further Vinny's education. Used to the busy life of Liverpool, Vinny wanders the island, spending long hours watching the comings and goings of a family who live on the cliffs. Life finally starts to improve for her as she begins a tentative friendship with one of the boys from the family. For Aunt Non, Vinny's presence brings back memories of her own girlhood and she begins to relive her former happiness in Liverpool, and the events which led up to her marriage to a Welsh farmer and her isolation in the wilds of Anglesey.