Gemma Barrett has a good job in a Southampton department store and a blossoming romance with the enigmatic Nick Weston, a first officer with Cunard. Life would be good if it wasn't for her mother, Eve, who likes more to drink than is good for her. And when Gemma's dad walks out and Eve starts bringing strange men home, Gemma doesn't know where to turn. Desperate to escape, she seizes the opportunity to be a stewardess on the Queen Mary, voyaging to and from New York. But a chance encounter with Vince Morelli, a gang boss in the New York docks, looks set to jeopardise her newfound happiness.