But Liverpool teems with new dangers, violence and corruption. Tansy fights for survival, meeting many strange characters as she goes; Malachy who procures girls, Donal the fiddler, Jan the American officer, and Conrad Schindler, the old Jewish milliner who plans to change her life.
It is only when Tansy has made her choice that events take a sudden and surprising turn, and the future of the Malones blossoms into the promise of a new adventure.