Three years have passed since Emma's return to Lancashire. Her uncle, Caleb Crowther, curses her return, he is terrified when she is determined to expose his treachery of twenty-two years ago. Not content with his efforts to destroy Emma, he hounds Molly, her estranged daughter. Born to a life of crime and poverty, will Molly ever discover the truth of her parentage? Emma tries to locate her, but Molly and her children have become vagabonds. Their life at times is almost unbearable, but Molly has inherited her mother's indomitable spirit. This is the concluding volume of the Emma Grady series (Outcast, Alley Urchin).