To light a candle

the long version

Cynny Barlow is just eighteen when she falls helplessly in love with the dashing Ralph Clinton, an ambitious and talented actor visiting her home town for the summer. However, when Ralph is talent-spotted by a film producer, he puts everything behind him and leaves for the big time, with no idea that Cynny is already pregnant. Whilst her daughter Suzie is a toddler, Cynny can see no way out of her life of drudgery, working at the grocer's during the day, and as a barmaid in the evenings to make ends meet. But everything is set to change when Perry Sylvester, a famous jazz pianist, makes Cynny's acquaintance, he recognises in her a rare singing talent, one that would perfectly match the jazz he plays in the nightclubs of London.