Stern Nurse Phyllis Crane encounters ex-borstal boy Vaughan who's desperate to marry his pregnant teenage girlfriend Paulette. When it's revealed that the girl's family oppose the union, Nurse Crane is the only person who sympathises with the former criminal and it leads her to reveal a secret that has cast a dark shadow over her life.
Meanwhile, a group of Irish Travellers come to the attention of the nuns and midwives when they are accused of petty theft by Sgt Noakes. The Nonnatus House crew are drawn into a closed and private world when they help to treat a newborn infant. When they discover that another baby is on the way, it gives Cynthia the chance to deliver her first tot since becoming a nun.
When Patsy arranges a fundraising dance, Nurse Crane is left feeling hurt and humiliated when the younger nurses find it hilarious that she's bought a ticket. And Fred asks local haberdasher Violet to accompany him to the dance as his date.
