The best scavenger and saleswoman on her mother's scruffy clothes stall, Maggie Beaton has been forced by circumstances to be self-reliant. So when she meets the members of her local suffrage group, all of them more prosperous than she, Maggie is determined to prove herself to them - with devastating consequences. With war looming, she suddenly finds herself an outcast, spurned by her family, her workmates and her friends. Her only support is George Gordon, a militant trade unionist - and, despite Maggie's shattering stints in prison, for a blissful time his love is enough. But as war breaks out they are forced apart, and Maggie finds herself reduced to the workhouse. Slowly she finds the strength to begin a struggle of a different kind - the search for a lost child who has given her life new meaning...