After returning to London for the first time in two years, Susan and Raymond begin a relationship, and he travels from his post in Belgium to visit her in England every weekend. Susan takes a job as a clerk in a small shipping firm in the East End. Susan's friend and colleague, the spunky 18-year-old Alice Park (Tracey Ullman), moves in with her, and they engage in a bohemian lifestyle, visiting nightclubs together. Susan is restless in her post-war life, and expresses frustration with her job at the shipping office. During the winter of 1945-1946, she quarrels with Raymond, and suggests they separate for the winter.