Pretty, spirited Kathleen O'Connor arrives in Boston on a "coffin" ship from Ireland. She has escaped the devastating famine, but her boyfriend died at home and her parents did not survive the voyage to America. Still the promise of a new life gives her hope. Patrick, a friend from the ship, finds a job for her as a maid with the wealthy Thornley family. They remind Kathleen of the landowners in Ireland who forced them from her home. She wants to despite them, but she can not hate David Thornley, who is tender and handsome, and obviously attracted to her. Her secret love for David could force Kathleen to go back to Ireland or make her dreams for a new life in America come true.