When Lucy's mother, Amy, is flung out of the house by her seafaring husband, she is rescued by a gentleman naval officer. Only on her deathbed does Amy reveal Lucy's true lineage. Struggling to keep her siblings in food - and her alleged father's drinking and gambling at bay - Lucy seeks work, like her mother before her, in the Buchanan house which she used to visit as a child, and where she first met the shipbuilder's orphaned nephew, Nick, and deceitful son, Murdoch. Meanwhile, Lucy is made an offer, which will guarantee the stability of her family. But she will soon learn that leopards don't change their spots.