It is 1936 and the headmistress at Roehampton Secondary School, pioneer and suffragette Octavia Smith, is steering her pupils towards success. But as Europe rumbles towards war, Octavia finds herself caught up in covert plans to rescue Jewish families from Nazi advance in mainland Europe. Meanwhile talk of an evacuation of schoolchildren is increasing and furthermore Octavia's prize student, Lizzie has quite an interesting father and Octavia finds herself torn between love and duty...As a new World War strikes closer and closer to home, bringing challenges and tragedies along the way, Octavia's war is only just beginning...