In the mid-1850s, life for an orphan was grim, as Kirsten MacGregor discovered when her parents died suddenly on a journey to Northumberland, leaving her penniless and alone in the hands of a cruel farmer. Somehow, Kirsten survived her terrible childhood - only to be sold, at the age of 14, to a travelling tinker - a vicious man who held her captive until the fateful day they were separated during a storm. Rescued from the flood by the Flynn family, she gave birth to a child as the waters raged about her. At the same time, Florence, mistress of the great house nearby, was told that her newborn son was dead. The two women entered into a secret bargain, an arrangement that was to change Kirsten's fortune and place her in the middle of a bitter feud between two families.