Georgina Corrigan is worried. The first women sent to her Percy Place home by the BOBs - an organisation which supports women escaping difficult home lives - are ready to step out into the world again. Some have found opportunities in Dublin, others will travel across the sea to New York.

Will those travelling to America find employment with the Harvey Company? Thousands try every year to become Harvey Girls - young women who serve in restaurants and hotels set up to serve travellers on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway line. Will they be successful when so many fail?

Meanwhile, at home complications multiply. Georgina is surprised when a strange young man appears, claiming the BOBs have sent him - but shocked when he reveals why. Then Flora Kilroy escapes a life of virtual slavery and appears on Georgina's doorstep, claiming to be a relative. What can Georgina do? She is helping strangers - she can't turn family away.

As the people who serve in the house struggle to meet the demands of each new arrival, Georgina wonders if she will ever know peace again.

The women of Percy Place greet each new day with fortitude. Failure is not an option. They are determined that they can, and will, not only survive but thrive.