Midwife Zoe Padbury has never loved a season more than Christmas in Thimblebury, her Lake District home, where festive lights glow in the windows, Santa cruises cross the lakes, and she spends her days welcoming new babies into the world.
At Kestrel Cottage the tree still sparkles, yet the mood is bleak after unexpected news that she may never be able to have children.
She and her boyfriend Alex have longed to start a family of their own, but as he builds a joyful Christmas for his daughter Billie, Zoe hides her heartbreak so she will not spoil the holidays.
Sitting with Billie wrapping presents and catching how tenderly Alex watches them both, she feels little of the hope the season promises.
All she wants is many more Christmases with the people she loves, yet she cannot tell whether their relationship is strong enough to survive the secrets she has kept.
