In London of the1870s, new wealth and staggering poverty smash the old order. Rich and poor alike claw fiercely to better their places. The social ferment reaches even a newborn baby, abandoned in a gutter, who stubbornly refuses to die. Young Katie's fight to beat the odds as a street child brings together a crazily diverse rebel crew who also refuse to be bested by their society. When genteel radical Amelia Radmore, a pioneer of the Home Children movement, creates a scheme to give destitute youngsters new lives in Canada, she little guesses her unconventional fundraising efforts will ignite a blazing battle of ambitions stretching from the lowest criminal dives to the Prince of Wales himself. A battle that threatens to undo them all. Strawberry Rose, raising money for Amelia, seizes the chance to take London by storm as a dazzling musical sensation. Red Nell, a powerful underworld potentate, sets out to fleece Amelia's charity. Nouveau riche Louisa Crisp sponsors Amelia in a desperate bid to social climb. Her sons, Adam and Henry, each obsessed with Rose, soon find themselves at each other's throats. While Amelia faces shocking revelations about the nature of married life, Rose discovers just how wrenching a sacrifice she must make for success and true love when Bertie, Prince of Wales, steps lustily into the mix. From this rousing mix of social climbers, demimonde intrigue, sensual appetite, ingenious theft, glorious talent and renegade lovers emerges a new breed who fling off the constraints of the Old World. Reaching for the freedom of the New, they become Canadians-in-the-making, longing to trade England at her peak for a wild risk on infant Canada, the tomorrow country. But can they prove tough enough, brash enough, to actually win this daring dream?