With neither family nor a penny to her name, the future looks bleak for Albertina Listerman. Until, that is, she has a chance encounter with a kind-hearted man...

At eleven years of age, Albertina Listerman loses her parents in a terrible accident. At twenty-one, she experiences further tragedy when her half-brother commits suicide, having squandered the family fortune.

Robbed of her very last penny, Ally is thrust into a world of hardship for which she is ill-prepared. Her salvation comes in the form of Jack Fossett, a kind lad who takes pity on this beautiful, bedraggled girl, and welcomes Ally into his heart. But Jack's mother Flo is less convinced, and time must pass and secrets must be revealed before Ally and Flo see eye to eye - particularly when they discover that Ally is not as destitute as she thought...