Nancy is a child of the London slums, a perky no-nonsense girl with the ability to laugh at the knocks life deals her. Her sister is a whore and to save her from the same fate Lily takes her to work at a laundry which is no more than child slavery. Nancy runs away and makes a life on the streets, scavenging and begging. Billie and his older sister, Sarah Jane, are forced into the workhouse when their parents die and they are turned out of the tied cottage. Sarah Jane is sent to work at the home of Lord and Lady Chevington. Billie, left behind in the workhouse decides to run away and find his sister. He is picked up by a chimney sweep who takes him to London. When he grows too big to climb chimneys, he is thrown out and is befriended by Josh, a petty thief and pickpocket. They are eventually arrested and sent to Newgate prison where Josh dies of cholera. Out of prison, with no where to go, he meets Nancy. ‘We’ll have a whole house to ourselves one day,’ he tells her when they decide to leave the streets and move into a rented room. ‘With six rooms and curtains at the windows and carpets on the floor.’ ‘Is that a promise, Billie Winterday?’ she asks. ‘It is.’ ‘I don’t reckon you oughta make promises,’ she says. It is her policy never to trust in promises, you only lay yourself open to disappointment and hurt; it is better to tell yourself you don’t want whatever it is being offered. ‘Promises and pie crusts are made to be broken.’ ‘This one i’n’t.’ But when things start to go badly wrong, it seems Nancy is right…
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