When Kate and Rose Drew are orphaned in October 1904 they are separated. Kate is taken in by Aunt Mildred and is soon put to good use helping her run a Liverpool boarding house. Rose, meanwhile, is adopted by Aunt Beattie, a wealthy widow who spoils and smothers her pretty young niece. As the two sisters grow up their lives follow very different paths. But, at the end of the day, it is not what Kate and Rose have in life that counts, it is what they choose to make of it...