As Christmas 1938 approaches, the staff at the Nightingale Hospital have their own wishes for the festive season. Ward sister Frannie Wallace is hoping she won't have to live through another war like the one that claimed her fiance. Staff Nurse Helen Dawson wants to find happiness again after the death of her husband Charlie. But is she looking for love in the wrong place? Matron Kathleen Fox struggles to keep up morale. But while everyone else worries about the future of the Nightingale, it's for her own future that Kathleen truly fears. As the country prepares itself for war, one thing is for sure - nothing at the Nightingale Hospital will be the same again.