Ruby and Grace have grown up in the poorest slums of Hull. Friends since early childhood, they have supported each other in bad times and good. But their families are bound together by more than friendship. The local cotton mill has provided work for Ruby and Grace since they were nine years old, and now years later both girls find themselves the object of attention from the mill owner's sons. As times grow harder, and money ever scarcer, Grace becomes involved in campaigns against poverty and injustice, while Ruby is tempted into prostitution. The two girls are searching for something that could take them far away... But what price will they pay to find it?