After her husband's death, a widow (Judy Dench) decides she wants to re-kindle her musical roots. Encouraged by her grand-daughter, she seeks out the almost all-female band she played with during World War II. The one non-female in the troop was a cross-dressing drummer (Ian Holm) with whom she still is friends. With his help, they start tracking down their old cronies - and find some dead and some mentally incompetent. Slowly the band grows, but their sound is lacking. When the singer (Cleo Laine) is added to the mix, everything comes together.

The film contains the last acting performance of Joan Sims.

[Betty the Bandleader has just reminded the band that there's to be no drinking on stage to which the alcoholic Dinah replies:]


Dinah:
Sorry, babe, this is not negotiable. Drunk I can't play a note, sober I can't play a note but there's a part in the middle where I play like a goddamn angel.

Revealing mistakes: When the girls are walking across the rubble after the bombings we see one of the girls in a red coat wearing trainers.

Music by Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics by William S. Gilbert
Performed by The King's Singers