A while later Jo badly grazes her knee in a fall as she is walking home from school. Limping along, she goes past the Manchester Ship Canal, where Jimmy happens to be coming off his ship. He sees Jo and invites her onboard to attend to her knee. They go dancing and on the return to his ship they kiss for the first time. This turns out to be the start of a brief romantic relationship, but Jimmy's ship soon sails and they part. Relations between Jo and her mother become further strained when her mother courts Peter Smith (Robert Stephens). Jo trails after them on a weekend in Blackpool. Peter gives mum an ultimatum saying she must choose him or Jo. They send Jo home alone. Mum remarries and moves to a suburban bungalow with him and leaves Jo to fend for herself. Jimmy is waiting when she returns to Manchester and they spend a night together before he boards his ship in the morning. She watches him sail off.