Charmian meets Ronnie Biggs on a train. As Ronnie is a carpenter and petty criminal, Charmian's father, a headmaster, does not approve and forbids her to see him. In love, Charmian leaves home, steals from her employer and goes on the run with Ronnie and his best friend Mike. When captured, Biggs is imprisoned and Charmian is given a suspended sentence. On release, Charmian and Ronnie marry, her pregnancy forcing her father's approval. Going straight but needing money, unbeknownst to Charmian, Ronnie is drawn into Bruce Reynolds plans for the Great Train Robbery.

Ronnie returns from his tree felling job and Charmian realises he has been involved in the Great Train Robbery. This is confirmed when he shows her his share; £147,000. Charmian lives in fear of discovery and they disperse the money amongst trusted friends. In September 1963 Ronnie is arrested and Charmian is beseiged by the press. She is drawn into the disappeared Bruce Reynolds' circle of friends. They deal with a chancer demanding money from her for protection. At the trial Ronnie is given 30 years imprisonment and Charmian is disowned by her parents.

With no chance of remission for Ronnie, Charmian has an affair with Ruby Wright's son, Alan. She becomes pregnant and has a back-street abortion. In July 1965, Biggs and three others escape Wandsworth prison, in a prison break organised by underworld friends. In December 1965 Charmian meets him in Paris. Determined to reunite the family, they take on new names and in June 1966 Charmian and her two boys fly to Darwin, Australia. They reunite with Ronnie again, and after another name change the family settle in Adelaide. Charmian becomes pregnant and a third son is born. They receive news from England that Bruce Reynolds has been arrested in Mexico.

Biggs's picture appears in an Australian magazine. After another change of name, with the robbery money now all gone, they move to Melbourne and both get jobs. A London ‘grass’ lets slip that Ronnie Biggs is hiding ‘somewhere in Australia’ and Biggs's picture appears on the evening news in Melbourne. Biggs goes into hiding; Charmian is arrested and the children are taken into care. Charmian agrees to sell her story to the Packer organization in exchange for a sum of cash and a lawyer to represent her in court. The lawyer wins her freedom and helps her get her children back. She secretly meets Biggs before he takes a steamer to Panama and overland to Rio De Janeiro.

As Ron begins a new life in Rio, Charmian makes the best of things as a single mother in Melbourne. But tragedy strikes when their eldest son Nicky is killed in a car accident.