Kitty is seventeen, restless and rebellious. Resentful of her mother's new husband, she yearns for stories of the father she never knew. Kitty is sure he must have been special as her mother risked everything for him. But when her gossipy aunt divulges that he was a wealthy gentleman, it only serves to heighten Kitty's discontent with Jarrow - the grimy, improverished town she calls home.