After the death of her mother, Mollie Barnes finds herself in her aunt & uncle's house, dealing with her aunt's simmering resentment, which leads her to spitefully reveal the shocking truth about Mollie's parentage. Every day, Mollie had been working by the shore, under the shadow of the big house, & now she knows that the master of that house, James Grainger, is her real father, she vows that one day she will sit at his table. But her dreams of finding acceptance are shattered as she finds herself the unwilling object of her half-brother's affections...