Caroline is an army wife, recently moved to barracks with a new baby. Her husband Tom is on his first tour away, and Carolins finds it hard to adjust to life alone. They keep in touch as much as they can, but it’s hard work – the baby’s had colic and won’t stop screaming. The wives’ network is strong, but Caroline’s struggling to fit in. All the other women seem strong and calm, neat and tidy – why is she such a mess?

Old hand Maggie can see Caroline’s becoming a bag of nerves and tries to help. When it turns out that there are rats in the house Caroline reaches breaking point, but Maggie calms her and puts her in touch with her husband’s mate Sam, a rat catcher. Sam says it’s going to take several weeks to get on top of the problem, as he doesn’t want to put poison down with a baby in the house. He takes pity on Caroline’s predicament; he can see how hard things are for her, and he unwittingly starts to take the place of Tom in the household – at the dinner table, with the baby, doing odd jobs about the house.

The attraction is clearly growing between Sam and Caroline, but they both resist. When there’s a health scare with the baby Sam is a rock for Caroline, but even when he stays over he’s on the sofa. However, Maggie is suspicious of the dramatic change in Caroline’s outlook and gossip starts to spread. Caroline is snubbed by the wives at a memorial service and her protests at innocence are scoffed at.

Chastened by the priest’s sermon about sacrifice and duty, Caroline goes to find Sam to tell him that they can’t be friends any more, only to find that he has been beaten up as a warning. Caroline’s heart goes out to Sam, and they end up in bed confessing their love for each other. They are interrupted by a phone call…