 It is night time, and as Dot Branning (June Brown) makes herself a cup of cocoa at home, she records a message on a tape recorder for her husband Jim (John Bardon), who is in hospital recovering from a stroke. Dot tells Jim everyone is missing him, and that she has been dreading recording the message. She talks about her Christian faith and remembers her childhood, her first marriage to Charlie Cotton (Christopher Hancock) and her friendship with Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin). She talks about when she was evacuated to Wales during the Second World War and how she did not cry when she left her mother. She says she was happy moving away to live with her guardians, a Welsh couple named Gwen and Will, as they made her feel special, and recalls the happiest day of her life. She remembers how Will would sing "Pretty Baby" to her at night, but says since then everyone she has cared about has died. She finishes by telling Jim that the hospital staff want to send him home, but she fears she will not be able to cope and concludes she is better on her own.
