MAGGIE JORDAN When most of Maggie Jordan's family are killed in a freak flood, she is forced to find work in one of Glasgow's carpet mills. She becomes engaged to Neil Sanderson, but struggles on alone when he decides to go to Spain to join the Republicans. Though she eventually joins Neil abroad, she finds him distant and ruthless, and fiercely jealous of her new friendship with American journalist Howard Taft. SCARLET RIBBONS Sadie Smith, born with a degenerative hip, is unable to walk. Sent to a Dr Barnardo's home for treatment, she is so excited that she fails to realise that she will never see her beloved family again. Once fully cured, Sadie is offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to start a new life in Canada. But when she arrives at the Trikhardts' farm in the heart of Ontario, her new life seems far from perfect.