A new life awaits… Martha and Penelope Merridene desperately need a fresh start. Their father gone, they are left penniless, and the only way forward is to accept an unusual job offer in the distant town of Tapton. Jonas Wright, the mill owner there, requires a teacher for his daughters and some promising mill workers.
The sisters aren’t settled long before their lives are flipped upside down. Caught up in a riot, Penelope meets a disgruntled worker, Daniel Porter, whose family have been brought to starvation by a rival mill owner. And against her better judgement, Martha finds herself drawn to Ben Seaton, the father of one of her students.
In the midst of the chaos, some romance might be just the respite the two sisters need – but the course of true love never did run smooth.