Agnes is a daughter of an aristocrat but she is lonely and neglected by her stern father when her mother dies. She is raised by her mother's old servant Mary Piplin. When Agnes's half brother is born she is to be sent away to a convent and at the same time Piplin has to leave too to go to Portsmouth. Not wanting to go to a convent she runs away to try and find her nanny in Portsmouth, however things do not go to plan and Agnes ends up in London. The horrors of the work house and poverty are soon upon her. Will she ever find Piplin and live happily ever after?