The year is 1948. Although World War II had ended three years earlier and a prosperous peace is now well under way, painful memories linger. The setting is the transatlantic French luxury liner PICARDI making its voyage from New York to Southampton, England. Interwoven in a suspenseful, romantic triangle is the ambiance of the late forties: shipboard life, music, films, books, travel, and politics. All these are background to the eternal theme of two women struggling to take charge of their lives and come to terms with their individuality, moral strength and independence.