Polly living in grinding poverty loses her mother in childbirth and finds herself alone on the streets of Hull. Rosalie brought up in affluence and comfort on the other side of town loses her own mother in similar circumstances and on the same day. Polly takes a job as a scullery maid in Rosalie’s lonely house and the two girls form an unlikely friendship. Travelling to the North Yorkshire Moors they discover a new kind of life and find tragedy and joy in equal measure.