1884 - When Betsan Morgan's mother succumbs to a devastating illness she doesn't think her life could get much worse. But then her father moves in his new beau an unserious flitty woman and coincidentally also the bargirl in the pub he works in and she soon learns her house is no longer a home. All she can do is sit in the attic and stare at the portrait of her mother. Her new stepmother Elinor couldn't even let them have the grace of keeping it in the hallway. When Elinor takes things too far - selling her dear mother's beloved sewing machine - Betsan decides to flee leaving in search of her estranged aunt who she last heard was living in the working district of Merthyr Tydfil. But the dank and dark place is not somewhere a twelve-year-old girl should stray alone and lest she want to end up in a workhouse she'll have to watch her step. . .
