Cholera had taken her parents and left Cissie Brodie with the upbringing of a family of nine. She was barely fifteen herself when they were evicted from their cottage and forced out on to the fells. But even though they'd hardly a shilling between them, Cissie set to building a home for the Brodies with a will that would have shamed an adult. It was only a rough stone shelter, thatched as best they could, but to Cissie and her family it was enough to keep them fron the workhouse.

They had friends, such as Matthew Turnbull the wheelwright and Watson the miller. But charity could not always spare them the harsh reality of their struggle, and the bitterness of those who bore them ill. Only love-when it came for Cissie Brodie-could ever teach her not to fear the world beyond the dwelling place...