Mary Evans, having survived living on the streets in Melbourne, Australia in the 1920's with her mother and her brother, has settled into becoming part of the family of the Hansens where her mother now works as a maid and companion. It was a remarkable change from the slums of North Melbourne to the well-to-do suburb of Hawthorn. Having won a scholarship to a private school, Mary in Part 2 is going through the strange adolescent period that every person goes through at secondary school. Sometimes very confident, sometimes very unsure and of course there are boys. It is the time of the Great Depression and the Hansens are doing what they can to support the less well off in the community. Mary, her brother David and her mother also pitch in.