Clara Durling is a British widow of the First World War who arrives in Canada as the new superintendent of the Lethbridge Hospital, just as wounded soldiers are streaming home. Lily Parsons is a young widowed schoolteacher from Nova Scotia who ends up in the same city, managing a brothel called The Last Post.

Set against the backdrop of love, union organizers, amorous bachelors, gamblers, drinkers, and prostitutes, the lives of these two women unexpectedly intertwine when Clara, in the heat of local politics and responding to the highest incidence of venereal disease in the province, establishes, with Lily's help, the first venereal disease clinic in the province. In this sprawling saga, Lily and Clara must confront the conservative thinkers in the city to give help and compassion to the wounded veterans.