Free-spirited Rebecca Westbrook recognises her perfect match when she sees him. His name is Captain Adam Bradley. She is the harbour master’s daughter. He is smouldering and sophisticated - the most eligible captain ever to sail into the quay. Anyone can see it’s meant to be. But Rebecca is anything but charmed. Her heart belongs to Tom Mason, a lowly cooper she’s known forever. Her father doubts Tom's ability to provide securely for her. But Tom has a plan to prove him wrong. And until then, passionate Rebecca refuses to wait to be with him. But fate has other plans.

Molly McKenzie is only eleven years old when her abusive father beats her to within an inch of her life. Escaping from the hovel she calls home, Molly is found by kind fisherfolk, sick and near death. With them she experiences the love of a family for the first time and, even though life is hard, she is content. Time passes and Molly’s looking ahead to a future with the boy she loves, but then a terrible tragedy rips her life apart. Once again she’s cast adrift in an uncaring world, but Molly is made of stern stuff and is determined to survive.

It's 1890, and Josie Gray is an innocent and beautiful fifteen-year old when Adam McGuigan, the youngest son of a dangerous and influential crime family, spots her singing in a Sunderland public house. Adam is handsome and charismatic, sweeping Josie off her feet with his beguiling lies and promises. He charms her into marrying him on her sixteenth birthday, but on her wedding night the fairy tale ends.

It’s mid-winter, and in the throes of a fierce blizzard, Elsie Redfern and her husband discover an unknown girl in their hay barn about to give birth. After the young mother dies, Elsie takes the infant in and raises her as her own daughter, her precious storm child. Gina grows into a beautiful little girl, but her safe haven turns out to be anything but. Torn away from her home and family, the child finds herself in a nightmare from which there’s no waking, but despite her misery and bewilderment, Gina’s determined to survive.

It’s December 1902, and Rose O’Leary is looking forward to her baby girl’s first Christmas. But then tragedy strikes: her husband dies at the shipyard where he works, and within days his friend Nathaniel makes it plain he’s determined to have her. Rose flees with her child but soon finds the world is a cruel place for a beautiful woman with no protection. More tragedy ensues, and yet, although she’s bruised and broken, Rose is a fighter.