The Deveraux family were among the most important members of 1920s San Francisco society, and the wedding of their daughter Eleanor to wealthy banker Alexander Allen would be the highlight of the 1929 social calendar.

The wedding, held in the family’s magnificent Pacific Heights mansion, was everything they’d hoped, and Eleanor’s dress was a triumph. But the dream life, along with the most perfect honeymoon in Europe, was about to come to an end when Alex received news of the Wall Street Crash. It appeared that the family had lost everything . . .

In the years that followed, the Deveraux lived through periods of huge social and political change. What helped to unite them was the beautiful wedding dress, first worn by Eleanor, which remained a family heirloom and continued to hold a special place in the hearts of a family desperate to survive the turmoil and changing fortunes of the times.