In a staid English seaside town after the Second World War, young Lynda grows up with her widowed father and younger sister. Rebellious Lynda has been swearing constantly from an early age. At sixteen, she becomes more exhibitionist and seeks out sexual encounters challenging the prevailing lower-middle class attitudes to sex.

Fed up with working hard just to scrape by, Christine Painter comes up with a bold plan to become the madam of a brothel and earn her financial freedom: she opens a house of spanking to fabulous reviews.

Belfast: 'On the hike' from school, her day controlled by the unreal time of the dandelion clock, Suzy embarks on an increasingly desperate search for her absent father.

The love affair of Irish nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell with a married woman, Katherine O'Shea.