December, 1940 -- London, in the Blackout and the throes of the Blitz.

It is Christmas. You are living in a London of blackouts and rationing - but there is also a tremendous sense of camaraderie that cuts across all classes. A city of darkness - no lights showing throughout the great city by night. A city where great monuments like St Pauls rear above the ruined landscapes that were once the heart of London's might. A city of dark alleys and unexploded bombs. More than a quarter of a million people have been made homeless.

But you are one of the lucky ones. Although the block of service flats next door was struck by a bomb and has been partially demolished, Mortmain Mansions - a block of modern service flats on the fringes of the East End of London - still stands.

London in the Blitz - a city in ruins, struggling to go about its daily life. A city of secret plans, secret allegiances ... and secret passions.

And Mortmain Mansions is no exception.

Living in Flat 17 is a highly talented Polish pianist, Anton Barowenski, desperate for news of his Jewish wife and daughter, trapped in Poland.

In Flat 20 lives his English agent, Marty Fitzroy. Perhaps not the ideal agent for such a sensitive artiste as Barowenski, Fitzroy is a loud-mouthed, red-faced East End barrow boy made good. It is rumoured that he cheats on his somewhat mousy wife, Esme - possibly with another of his clients, the beautiful starlet Nola Diamond (who lives in Flat 10).

Whoever you are, whichever of the flats you call home, this could, for some of you, be a Christmas to die for ...