The pupils of the Dora Jackson School of Dancing compete in the 1960 Classical Dance Festival in Scarborough. Fifties rock 'n' roll meets classical ballet with the arrival of Dora's ex-boyfriend Clifford and a mysterious ghost.

Adapting R.F. Delderfield's classic story of love, lust, crime and betrayal, this three-part mini-series centres around a young bank clerk whose yearning to escape the mundanity of 1930s small-town life is answered all too readily when he falls for an exotic beauty with dangerous intentions.