Amy Carter is just 14 when she has to leave school to look after her sick mother. When her father is tried and hanged for the murder of a local man and, shortly after, her mother dies, Amy is left with no one. Shunned even by former friends and neighbours, Amy is found at her mother's grave 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 in Chelsea, where Amy - with Ben, his fellow housemates, and the kindly landlady, Mrs Dalton - finds a real home for the first time.