1845: Clara Phipps is eight when her brother is born with one leg. Everyone around her assumes he will never be able to work, as her family are framework knitters, a job which needs two good legs. Clara sees him as more than a cripple, promising to do all she can to support him throughout his life. But new factories are undercutting their knitting, and the whole family must work all hours to earn enough to eat. Clara can only make any real difference if she can gain an education, a near impossibility for a working class girl from a penniless family.

Clara needs to support her family and is determined to keep her promise to her brother at any cost to herself. Married women's employment options are almost non-existent, except in the home, and with framework knitting in decline she assumes she will never wed.

When Clara falls in love with Samuel Hurst, must she choose between supporting her brother and a chance of happiness for herself?