Lizzie Devlin, an orphan, lives with her Aunt Annie whom she loves, Uncle Perce who hates her and two boy cousins within a stone’s throw of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Her situation at home starts to worsen as her uncle grows surlier and more violent. Eventually the worst happens and Lizzie is forced to flee from home to risk serious injury, perhaps even death. Her first instinct is to make for the canal, but finding Clem Gilligan, who works on the canal boat, The Liverpool Rose, is not so easy…