Alice Thorton is only five years old when her parents are killed in an accident. Together with her two little sisters, she is sent to live in a dismal part of London near the docks. Her grandfather loves them, but Christmas is a quiet, lonely affair in his little cottage. As the streets surrounding them turn dangerous, the girls are confined to the cottage. Alice’s only friend is Charlie Tillman, a cheerful young dockworker who is always looking out for her and her sisters.

Juliette Purcell has never known anything beyond her small, miserable world: the tiny tenement where she lives with her mother and brother; the grimy street filled with terrifying homeless men; and the market square where they scrounge scraps of food. Her mother, a washerwoman, works incessantly, yet Juliette and her brother Reuben often go hungry.

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.

London. 1854. For years, Fern Hall has lived in an orphanage in the East End of London. It’s a brutal life of endless chores and punishments for even the smallest infractions. She’s able to escape it for a time when she’s hired out as a temporary maid to the wealthy Hawk family, but a servant’s lot is little better. Gerard Hawk, the second son of the prosperous merchant, is drawn to Fern from their very first meeting when she comes to work for his parents. 

On a cold, lonely Christmas Eve, 15-year-old Dovie Ellis gives birth to a baby girl she names Christmas. Lost and afraid in the world, Dovie flees, abandoning her child that very same night.

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.

As a parlor maid, Blanche Eplett is invisible to everyone in her life…except for Ludwig Turner, the rakishly handsome master of the house. When Ludwig’s interest in Blanche becomes something more amorous, she finds herself pregnant with his child and soon gives birth to a little girl named May. At first, Ludwig is there to care for them both. But when tragedy strikes, Blanche and May are thrown out onto the streets. Blanche will do anything to care for May and to protect the child’s kind and loving heart—a heart soon enamored by a fellow street urchin named Taylor Harris. 

Daisy Parker’s life is imperfect, but it’s better than she could ever have imagined. Born in a Victorian workhouse, Daisy grew up knowing little other than discipline and desperate need. It is sweet and kind Bart Parker who changes her life by marrying her, giving her everything she holds most dear: a cozy home, a beautiful baby girl named Fannie, and a husband who truly loves her.

Fae Carter has been hiding all her life. First, her mother keeps her hidden away from the angry, violent man who owns their home. He calls Mama his favorite secret, but Fae knows he's not her father. Fae has to hide whenever he comes because he hates her so much that he hurts her if he finds her. Mama sends Fae to go and live with her grandparents in the country.

Tilly Barton can’t wait for Christmas - it’s her favorite time of the year. Her seafaring husband, Ray, is due home any moment now. Soon, she’ll be baking gingerbread and decorating the tree with her three young children. But, everything changes when Ray is tragically lost at sea. Tilly finds herself a widow with three little ones to think of in the brutality of a London winter. They’re cast into a turmoil of hardship, with Tilly struggling and scraping to keep her little family alive. Christmases come and go, bringing little joy with them.

In the wake of losing both her parents, young Joanna believed Bernard Woods was the solution to all her problems. It’s only after her baby, Della, is born that Joanna discovers Bernard is a scoundrel and a drunkard, more interested in gambling than in caring for his little family. When Bernard’s past catches up to him and Joanna finds him dead, police suspect she was the one who drove the knife into his heart. She has no choice but to take her baby and flee into the perilous streets of Victorian London, where children are a commodity and women a convenience…

Cara Cooper’s third Christmas starts out as the best she’s ever known. As the daughter of a kitchen maid, she’s just old enough to be really excited. When a kind stranger appears and takes Cara to a beautiful house filled with toys and Christmas treats of every description, she is thrilled. Little does the toddler know that the kind stranger, Edna, has an ulterior motive. Now kidnapped, Cara’s life is set on a collision course with tragedy.

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.[

Dora Wentworth is born out of wedlock in one of the poorest parts of Liverpool. Abandoned by her family, she is brought by God into the arms of a childless fisherman and his wife. But life is cruel, and when an accident prevents the fisherman from working, they are forced to give her up to the orphanage. As Dora grows, neglected and alone, she almost gives up on her dreams of one day having a home and a love she can call her own. Then, through the kindness of a stranger, Dora discovers that there is always hope and embarks on a path that might finally lead her to the family she has dreamed of.

Doxie Shaw suffers bitterly in an orphanage in Victorian London. As she struggles to survive, she tries to comfort the younger children, but her kindness quickly costs her the only home she's ever known. Thrown into the streets at the tender age of nine, Doxie's gentle heart tries to keep on loving and hoping in a world that seems bent on destroying her. Faced by one trial after another, Doxie becomes acquainted with the depth of cruelty in her city.