A three-year-old girl is found alone on a cold winter's night in a railway station waiting room. Where did she come from? What will happen to her? Ethel, a milliner, and Amelia, a writer, investigate another mystery in Edwardian Huddersfield with the help of Ethel's husband, Police Sergeant Fred Clough. The child's story unfolds against a background of exciting events in Ramsden Street. Gertie Soames, who is in training to be the housekeeper at Number Fifteen, is looking for a brother she never knew she had, while a new neighbour comes under suspicion, and a portrait painter begins to show an interest in Amelia.