Three young people, their Highland home burned by the British, struggle to survive in the slums of Edinburgh, Scotland, already full of refugees from the Irish potato famine and the industrial revolution. Dreaming of America, fifteen-year-old Meggie finds a job as a hotel maid. Kirstie, only four, huddles in a dark room to be safe. And twelve-year-old Rab must make his contribution to their future by learning the ways of the streets, and of the boys who live there. Will their determination be enough to save them? Or will their hopes, and lives, end in Edinburgh?