This is a story set against a late eighteenth and early nineteenth century background, telling how the evils of their time affected the lives of three generations of women. Kitty Kennedy loses her lover before Carolan is born; Katharine, Carolan's child, chooses what must inevitably be a life of danger; but it is Carolan, sensitive and proud, bold and reckless, who must suffer most deeply and who is the central figure around whom events revolve. Her adventures in the East End, in Newgate Jail and in the foul women's quarters on the prison ship transporting her to Australia are told in this novel. Having survived the journey and been taken to the house of Masterman of Sydney, Carolan finds that her experiences have changed her from an innocent girl to a ruthless woman, determined to establish herself in the Masterman household, and her method of doing so is such as will haunt her for the rest of her life.