Amy Carter is just 14 when she leaves school to look after her sick mother. But she is left all alone when her father is hanged for murder and her mother dies shortly after. Shunned even by her former friends, she is rescued by artist Benjamin Scott, who met Amy just once, read about the family’s difficulties and tracked her down. He takes the girl to his lodgings where Amy, with Ben, his fellow housemates and kindly landlady, finds a real home for the first time. When she falls in love with a young doctor and marries, Amy finds happiness beyond her wildest dreams – until the outbreak of war threatens to take away everything she holds dear.