A helpless baby is forsaken in a churchyard. This is how life begins for orphan Emma. Unwanted, cast aside, and thrown on the mercy of strangers, she grows up wondering why. And what are the mysterious gifts each year, placed where her cradle was once abandoned? Now blossomed to youthful beauty but shunned by society, the man she loves is forbidden to marry or court her. 

The untimely death of her beloved sister and the soul-crushing grief of her mother push Daisy to an agonizing juncture – one that leaves her all alone to fend for herself against seemingly insurmountable odds. But Daisy is not a quitter! Far from defeated, her spirit remains unyielding, fuelled by the unwavering belief in her mother's eventual recovery and the promise of a brighter future. Surely her sister's death was not in vain.

For the Burrows family, life is hard among the poorest of Liverpool. The port town by the Mersey is beautiful but bleak - for some a place of fortune, for others a daily struggle to survive. To help her family, the young, pretty, and penniless Lesley Burrows decides to get a job at her uncle’s flour mill. She does not realize that hidden behind the dark walls of the mill, family secrets wait to pounce.

Forced first into a harsh life of servitude under the philandering lord Hazelhurst and later to the clutches of the lawyer, Mr. Quigley, Demelza knows she must escape before her virtue is compromised. Only her growing love for Nathaniel, the young master of Hazelhurst Grange, gives her strength to carry on, but when clues point to Mr. Quigley’s involvement in her father’s death, she is thrust out of the house.

Step into a heartwarming world of cowboys and courage, family and fun, sweet romance and happily ever afters. Come home to Sweet Water, North Dakota, a small town where faith changes things and everyone knows your name.

Lady Napier is desperate to give her high-society husband an heir. Devastated by the birth of yet another girl, a secretive plot is hatched to replace the disappointing child with the newborn son of a local village woman.

Ten-year-old Jack Larkin has seen more than his fair share of shocking sights, growing up in the notorious Crown Saloon. Broken hearts and broken bones are just a fact of life in a Gin Palace, but for orphan Dolly, the Crown is her last hope. After the death of her mother, Dolly ran away from her sleazy stepfather, Arthur, only to find herself living on the streets. When Jack discovers her hiding in the back yard of the Crown, he persuades his mother, Nellie Larkin, to take Dolly in.

When Daisy Stanley's father tragically dies in a mining accident and her mother spirals into despair, the weight of responsibility falls upon the young six-year-old's shoulders.[

Life is hard for a plain, unloved, urchin like Ruby Brandon. Alone in the world with little to bring her joy other than the occasional orphanage outings to Wood Horse Farm, Ruby has nothing but her dreams to hold on to. 

Deserted by a selfish man, and driven to the workhouse, young Annabel and her midwife mother face a harsh and hopeless future. A critical situation for the workhouse governor then opens a door of deliverance for them both, but it seems that revenge and bitterness hound their every step.

Kathryn has watched her mother suffer through many miscarriages, and prays to one day be able to help women like her. When her mother’s latest baby dies, her father callously abandons them. With no home and no income, Kathryn must put her dreams on hold to care for her ailing mother and younger sister. She must find work quickly. For a middle-class girl, the match factory is a form of hell, but it keeps a roof over their head and a little food in their bellies.

In two run-down houses, at the side of a barren Black Country heath, live six children with no family but each other. Abandoned or orphaned, every day is a fight to find food and keep warm. But they are determined to stay free of the clutches of the workhouse and the horrors that would face them if they were ever torn apart. Dora Parsons lives with her mother, Mary, and her evil grandmother, Edith. Edith’s house may be comfortable and warm, and food is plentiful, but every day, Dora suffers at the hands of her spiteful gran.

Abandoned on the streets by a mother who doesn't want them, Maggie and her young brothers are forced into the cruel confines of the workhouse. When Maggie is forced to leave the workhouse, and her terrified brothers, behind to begin work as a seamstress, she vows to get her family back together.

Motherless Ten-year-old Milcah Fox lives with her father and six younger siblings, collecting dropped scraps of coal in order to feed her poor and hungry family. Life for the Fox household is difficult, but the family hold themselves together with faith, love and their shared joy for stories.

Blossoming in a Victorian slum is an impossible dream. Hopes and dreams come here to die, not to be born. But Daphne is an unusually determined dreamer. Despite the disappearance of her parents and siblings, she holds to her goal. The workhouse can't stop her. The slums won't prevent her. Disaster and degradation only fuel her intentions.