In 1870s Yorkshire, Annie Quaintain, a recently widowed mother, is forced to sell her house and possessions to pay off her late husband's debts. Penniless and shunned by society, Annie and her two children set out for Culverdale Valley, where an enormous railway viaduct is being built. She sets up a lodging house in Jericho, a lawless shanty town full of rough and rowdy workers.
