London, 1914. While young men enlist up and down the country, the Nightingale Hospital has its own set of new recruits¿Anna Beck is the daughter of the best baker in Bethnal Green. Her German father built the business out of nothing but, as the shadow of war descends, his fate is at the mercy of their neighbours. Meanwhile Kate Carlyle has always wanted to become a doctor. She fought hard to get into medical school, and even now she faces prejudice from her fellow students as well as the tutors. Can she prove them wrong? And Sadie Sedgewick joins the Nightingale for a fresh start, but the past has a way of catching up with people¿