In 1950, in London, Vera Drake is a simple woman of a low-class but happy family. She works cleaning upper-class houses; her beloved husband is a mechanic and works with his brother in a repair shop; her son is a tailor; and her daughter tests and packs electric lamps.
The helpful Vera is a very good and cooperative woman, helping her sick mother, a handicapped neighbor and whoever needs her. She also induces miscarriages in women who do not want to have children--without any remuneration.
When a woman whose husband is serving overseas falls pregnant as the result of an affair has complications with her intervention and goes to the hospital, the police investigate the occurrence, and the world--and the family--of Vera fall apart with this tragedy.