This novel is set in the mid 1840s in the Lakes District of Cumbria, England. Sixteen-year-old Emmeline has lost her Mama and Papa and is now a wealthy young heiress. With this comes the responsibility of her father's collieries and the battle to keep them from her uncle's grasp.

Emmeline is a dreamer. She has her life planned based on her second cousin Isabella Curwen's life, who at the same age was in this very position. On her Papa's death bed he had whispered for her to find 'Thomas'. Who was 'Thomas' and where would she find him?

Amid all her wealth Emmeline never forgot her roots and looked after her miners and their families. Sadly, life was not as her dreams led her to believe. This is a story of personal grief.