Seventeen year old Molly has bounced around the foster care system and is close to aging out. Her latest placement is less than ideal and there is conflict between Molly and her foster mother. After being caught stealing she has agreed to do community service work to keep herself out of juvie. Vivian is an elderly woman who agrees to let Molly do her community service work helping her clean out her attic. Molly feels there is no one who could possibly understand her situation but while unpacking boxes she learns of Vivian's life story. Vivian came to the states as a child, an immigrant from Ireland. After the death of most of her family and the hospitalization of her mother, Vivian, then called Niamh, finds herself the ward of the Children's Aid Society that sends her and other "orphans" to Minnesota to be given to families who want children, mostly as farmhands or servants. With her name changed to Dorothy, Vivian lands in multiple bad situations before finding a true home and a new name once again. The story of the similar challenges faced by these women and the friendship that emerges despite the age difference is compelling.
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