Marisia, a Polish teenager, comes to America at the turn of the twentieth century and must fend for herself on New York's Lower East Side.

Bullied because of the English father he barely remembers, fourteen-year-old Liam gladly leaves Connemara, Ireland, in 1901 with his uncle and sister, but his problems follow them to Hell's Kitchen in New York City, until he finds a way to leave the pastbehind.Bullied because of the English father he barely remembers, fourteen-year-old Liam gladly leaves Connemara, Ireland, in 1901 with his uncle and sister, but his problems follow them to Hell's Kitchen in New York City, until he finds a way to leave the pastbehind.