In the dead-end Canadian town of Bleak Landing, twelve-year-old Irish immigrant Bridget O'Sullivan lives in a ramshackle house and dreams of another life, even as the Great Depression rages. Routinely beaten by her father and bullied by schoolmate Victor Harrison, the waifish yet fiery redhead vows to run away and never return. Just a few short years later, run she does -- fleeing the unspeakable repercussions of her father's gambling. In Winnipeg, Bridget lands a job at a garment factory, the first step on her journey to shed her past and begin anew.