Joining the Women's Royal Naval Service at the start of World War II, young Jane Beacon stands brave and tall against the enemy, the sea, and the entrenched chauvinism of the Royal Navy.

Set against a sweeping panorama of the war and the Royal Navy, the story tells of her struggle to succeed as the pioneer Naval boat crew Wren. Coming of age under extreme conditions, she finds herself as a warm woman, as a leader and as an outstanding seaman.

From early days of the war to the beaches of Dunkirk, her beauty captivates hearts, her abilities confound a deeply doubtful Admiralty, and her fiery independence of spirit always puts her at an angle to authority.

World War II was a defining period on the road to emancipation of women. The desperate need for every usable pair of hands for the war effort meant that the old barriers to women's participation in the outside world of work and life beyond the home were broken down, never to be fully re-instated. The young men of the time, as well as being ordered to do the fighting and dying, found themselves in the vanguard of a social revolution where their womenfolk stood alongside them and were an essential part of ultimate victory.