In the poverty-stricken streets of Sunderland's East End in the early 1900s, orphan Rose Lumley lives with her alcoholic uncle Stan, thieving aunt Bea and beloved but forceful Granny. Granny urges Rose to forge a better life for herself, away from the East End, and when she gets a job at a local bakery she starts on an adventure that will change her fortunes for ever...