Headmaster's daughter Charmian Powell meets petty criminal Ronnie Biggs on a train. Her father disapproves and forbids her to see him. Head over heels in love, Charmian leaves home, steals from her employer, and goes on the run with Ronnie.

Ronnie returns from his tree-felling job and Charmian realises that he has been involved in the Great Train Robbery when he shows her his share of £147,000.

Charmian has an affair with Alan but finds herself visiting a back-alley abortionist after getting pregnant. Ruby threatens to tell Ronnie unless Charmian pays her, but Charmian has a better use for her cash: financing Ronnie's escape with fellow convict Eric Flower.

After Ronnie's wanted photo appears in an Australian magazine, he moves Charmian and the boys to Melbourne, where she gets a job in a biscuit factory and he works as a building foreman. However, when his picture flashes on the evening news, he goes into hiding.

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 is killed in a car accident.