Vera Drake lives with Stan, her husband, and their two children, Sid and Ethel: a happy, tightly-knit working-class family.
Vera is a cleaning lady. Stan, a mechanic, works in his brother’s garage.
Sid is an apprentice tailor. Ethel works in a light bulb factory.
Energetic and cheerful, warm-hearted and devoted, Vera gives her all to her family and neighbors.
On the quiet, she also helps young women have abortions.
When one of these women is hospitalized in a serious condition, the police investigates and comes to arrest Vera during the family‚s celebration of Ethel’s engagement.