Sian is the unlucky thirteenth child in a Welsh coalminer's family. Life is hard; her mother died after giving birth to her and her father is grief-stricken. Sian's eldest sister hatches a plan to take them both far away, to find a better life. It will be a long voyage across the ocean, but Sian is looking forward to a new start in a country where the sun shines and she can go to school every day instead of picking coal scraps for pennies. The only problem is, no one must know about the great journey they are about to take ...