Stourbridge, 1864. Raised in a joyless, puritanical home, Ruth Mountford hungers for more. When her mother dies and she is left alone with her oppressive father, she decides to flee to make it on the stage.

Her life is suddenly full of music and friendship - a new best friend in the loving but damaged Beatty, a home of her own, and plenty of male admirers.

But the theatre's glitter hides a dark underbelly of obsession and disease. When a man is found murdered, all eyes turn to Ruth. Arrested and alone, she must face a scandalous trial that threatens to reveal her past.

Can Ruth find the family she lost - and the courage to love - before the shadows of her history destroy her?