In a 19th century Yorkshire mill town, Irish immigrant Cara Adeane struggles to support her son and mother. Gemma Gage, an industrialist's daughter, fights society's conventions, which keep women the property of their fathers and husbands. Both love Daniel Carey, a Chartist devoted to improving laborers' working conditions. Cara refuses to follow him and spends her life acquiring material wealth and repressing her emotions. Gemma uses her money to support Daniel's causes and eventually wins him. The cast of characters is rich and varied, adding layers of complication to the simplified plot above. Jagger's women are more fully realized than her male characters, and when the story wanders from Gemma or Cara, the plot sags. But these two are women worth watching, brave, passionate survivors in a society dominated by men.