Life is hard in 1930s Liverpool, and Biddy O'Shaughnessy is left destitute when her widowed mother dies. She finds herself forced to work all hours, seven days a week, for Ma Kettle, owner of the local sweet shop. Soon she can take no more and she does the unthinkable and runs away.
But luck appears to be on her side. Sharing a flat with Ellen, an old school chum who has a special friend paying the rent, keeps the wolf from the door. Then fate conspires against them and Biddy finds herself homeless once more, living rough on the mean streets of Liverpool with no one to turn to.
When she applies for the post of maid with the Gallagher family, Biddy starts to feel she might at last be able to lead a normal life. It is a feeling that is strengthened when she meets Dai, a young Welshman working the trawlers. But Nellie Gallagher, despite appearances, has a secret that will change all their lives . . .
