Since Irish orphan Nellie O’Neill arrived in South Australia, her new life hasn’t turned out at all as she imagined. A fire burned down the boarding house where she was a maid for the Thompson family, and they had to move to the Burra. Although Tom Thompson wrote to Nellie, inviting her to join them, she didn’t see the letter until it was too late. Then, because of a terrible misunderstanding, both Nellie and her best friend, Mary, were dismissed from their jobs as servants to the wealthy Lefroys. Now the girls have nothing left but hope …