On the brink of adulthood Fanny and Linda are stuck in the Oxfordshire countryside impatiently waiting for life to begin. When they finally break free, Linda immediately falls hopelessly in love, leaving Fanny feeling left behind.

Linda and Fanny are both now married, but their approaches couldn’t be more different. Fanny embraces motherhood, fulfilling her role as a good wife. Meanwhile Linda’s marriage quickly disintegrates. She throws herself into a glamorous lifestyle and parties until dawn. Eventually, Linda is pulled away by an enigmatic communist, and makes the drastic decision to start a new life with him.

Linda lands on her feet in Paris with her new French lover Fabrice. Back in England Fanny is furious that Linda is flouting society’s rules while she feels forced to obey all the rules of her married life. However, as the war tears Europe apart, Linda and Fanny reconcile just in time, when they both realize there’s no right way of being a woman.