Amid a world unravelling, can the Bennison family survive the storm of World War I?

County Durham, 1914.

For Ben Bennison, enlisting in the army offers a way out of the backbreaking drudgery of the steelworks. His ambition turns to bitter regret after he persuades his brothers, Joe and Billy, to join him on the battlefields of Flanders. As the unrelenting horrors of war unfold, Ben is haunted by a guilt no victory can erase.

On the home front, Polly Bennison and sister-in-law Georgina watch as lists of local men killed, missing and wounded grow ever longer. With their men at war, they struggle to feed their children on meager separation allowances as food and fuel prices soar. When German shells hammer Hartlepool and Scarborough, they realise the war is not just for soldiers; it's being fought by everyone.

Margaret Bennison watches her three sons leave for war with dread, while their father takes pride in his boys’ service to King and Country.

As the weeks stretch into months, the hopes of Kitchener’s New Army are buried in the unrelenting mud of the trenches. The harsh truth of war tears through lives, irrespective of rank. As thousands of young officers fall, promotions are no longer a matter of class, a man’s ability finally counts.