Young Kate Browning was beginning to find the strain almost to hard to bear. With her mother Florrie missing & her spineless father no use at all it fell to Kate to look after the family. But life in East London at the end of the nineteenth century had never been easy & with her cruel half-brother Alex becomingmore & more difficult she despaired of ever seeing her beloved mother again. But her fortunes change when one day searching for Florrie around the docks she meets a friendly face in the form of John Kelly a cheeky Irishman who rescues her from a tricky situation. Together with his grandparents John reminds her what happiness is like
- & she soon dreams of happiness with him. The dark shadow of Alex hangs over her still however & when he learns of her new friendship his cruelty slides into madness. Harbouring unnatural desires for his beautiful half-sister he will never allow the Irishman to take her away
- but Kate has inherited her mothers spirit as well as her looks & vows to forge her own way: discovering what became of Florrie & giving herself a deserved chance for love...