When Evangeline is sent to a small town in Yorkshire as a schoolteacher in 1871, she is unprepared for the poverty she finds there. With a sophisticated Victorian upbringing, she struggles to fit in with the unfamiliar culture. The locals - whose accent is hard to understand - struggle with few resources or opportunities. Though she has no training as a teacher, Evangeline must prove herself before her grandfather will release her inheritance and reunite her with her sister, the last remaining member of her family. Forbidden from any connection to her aunt or grandfather, Evangeline is alone. Except for Dermot, an Irish brick mason, and his son, Ronan.