The big screen adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's 1958 stage play about adolescent Jo and her relationships with her irresponsible mother, Helen, Jimmy, the Nigerian sailor who leaves Jo pregnant and Geoff, the homosexual art student who moves in with Jo to help with the baby. It also portrays Jo's unshakeable optimism throughout her trials set against the back drop of working class Salford in the 1950's.