Effie Davis is a modern young woman, educated and independent. And for a free-spirited woman in Melbourne in 1896 there is much to fight for ….. causes like universal suffrage and equal pay for women. But Effie's principles and beliefs become far more than academic when a chance meeting with baby Alfie in her St Kilda boarding house triggers a disturbing chain of events, one that exposes her to the seedier side of marvellous Melbourne. And so she steels herself to fight for another just cause: the rights of young mothers, separated from their babies through economic hardship and an uncaring State. A lost baby, a desperate single mother, and legal and welfare systems that seem totally unable to deal with a tragic mistake. But is it just hopeless bureaucracy to blame, or something far more sinister at work here?