Elaine Wilson (Sarah Lancashire) is a gifted cake-maker, living on a grimy estate. She has a husband traumatised by a fire-fighting accident, a son who seems to have fathered most of the kids on the estate, a mother with a degree in emotional blackmail, and an amazing gift for producing beautiful cakes.

One day, a batch of buns emerge from Elaine's oven bearing a remarkable resemblance to the image of the Virgin Mary, and all around Elaine miraculous things start to happen. She doesn't have time for such naïve superstition ... but when it becomes clear that all is not well with her marriage, maybe she could do with a miracle of her own.