After a serious incident at her luxurious home, thirteen year old, privately educated, Amy Harrington, finds herself escaping on a train into an uncertain future. Driven by fear, and in the belief that she has killed her stepfather, she flees the privileged, home lifestyle for an unknown, dangerous future on the streets of London. Through meetings with various characters, Amy has to quickly learn how to survive. Some of her encounters are people who genuinely want to help, and others who see her as the vulnerable, young victim she is. She learns, usually through sad and painful experience, just who she can and cannot trust. Learning to beg, steal and charity shop retail are all alien to her, but she soon finds it necessary to pick up quickly when she discovers the reality of trying to exist in her new environment. However, there is a lot worse to come than the odd stolen loaf of bread, or rattling a cup for change at the tube station. Because when she thinks she has sunk to the bottom, little does Amy know, she is yet to face the abyss.