Quick-witted Sharon is a woman to whom life has been unkind. Following an unhappy marriage and having always been second-best to Tracey, her husband's imprisonment grants her a whole new lease of life which she grasps wholeheartedly.

After moving in with Tracey, she works her way through a string of badly paid jobs, and later finds unlikely success as a businesswoman. She is desperate to have a child but any attempts to find true romance are ultimately thwarted.

Sharon's elder sister Tracey is happily married, living in a big house in affluent Chigwell, blissfully unaware of her husband's criminal activities. When he is sent to prison, her life falls apart and she has to learn to be independent for the first time in her life. Often proving inept and intellectually challenged, with the help of Sharon, she soon begins to blossom into an assured and capable woman.

Tracey's next-door neighbour, who, initially, uses Sharon and Tracey for her own ends, especially to provide alibis to hide her frequent extra-marital liaisons from her spouse Marcus. Before long, however, she develops a deep friendship with the girls and - in spite of her snobbish attitude and questionable morals - the three become inseparable.

Garth is the Stubbs' only son who is a young teenager attending public school when Darryl is banged up, causing father and son to grow apart. He later attends catering college and becomes a chef. A good boy at heart, he does manage to create some headaches for his mum but is ultimately a tower of strength in her times of need.

Tracey's husband has a history of criminal offences that she knows nothing about, but when he attempts to pull off a full-scale bank robbery, his plan fails and he is jailed for twelve years. Devoted to his wife ever since they were childhood sweethearts, nonetheless, his own desire for the high life has always taken priority.

Sharon's good-for-nothing husband of Greek extraction has made little effort to conceal his affairs with other women over the years, but knows that he needs her and is devastated at the thought of losing her. Stupid and devious, he continues to control his wife's life from prison, with the help of emotional blackmail and his extended family.