Rosebay willowherb grew rapidly on bombsites in WWII. Often called Bombweed, its image conjured up the terror of the blitz and its aftermath; a reminder of the lifelong consequences of wartime loss and the choice to cling to, discard, or lock away the memories of those who have disappeared from view in the fog of war.

Vivienne, a naive teenager in 1938, has to grow up in a world at war. Her family is shattered, like the buildings in her town, by the Luftwaffe. Vivienne and her sisters each seek ways to deal with devastating loss. Memories are destroyed, blotted out with drink and sex, or clung to obsessively. Houses can be repaired when peace comes, but the heart is a trickier matter. Vivienne knows that to recover, she must reach into the dark past.