After prison, Dolly assembles ex-convicts to open a children's home as a front for a mail train robbery. Conflicting motives and a tragic misunderstanding culminate in a disastrous outcome when the women gather to divide the spoils.

Dolly Rawlins has just been released from prison after serving 5 years (stated on the credits of the original TV series) for murdering her husband Harry after a robbery that she and several other women carried out on a security van that Harry was planning to raid [see _"Widows" (1983) (mini)_ and _"Widows 2" (1985) (mini)_]. Having acquired a reputation in prison as a dominant, respected figure, and now apparently being a reformed character, Dolly teams up with a number of other ex-convicts: Gloria Radford (who had fenced stolen guns), Ester Freeman (who ran a brothel), Connie Stevens and Angela Dunn (prostitutes), Julia Lawson (a drug dealer), and Kathleen O'Reilly (a forger). Dolly and the other women make plans to set up a children's home in a derelict Victorian house. But Dolly is planning one final armed robbery on a mail train. The other women want a share in the proceeds, but they're also secretly planning to get their hands on Dolly's money and jewels from the previous robberies. The police are also watching Dolly, hoping that she will lead them to the loot, but matters are hopelessly compromised when Mike Withey, one of the detectives and the brother of Shirley Miller, who died in the jewel raid [see _"Widows 2" (1985) (mini)_], starts having an affair with Angela. He is coerced to help with the mail-train robbery. Having pulled off the robbery, the women meet back at the Manor House to divide up the spoils, but the simmering atmosphere of mistrust between Dolly and Ester leads to a tragic ending, after a trivial misunderstanding about a visit by the police.—Martin Underwood <[email protected]>