By 1870 Emma Grady has spent seven years of servitude as a convict in Australia. Now, having earned her ticket of leave she is held by chains of friendship. Emma's loyalty to her kind and gentle employer, Roland Thomas, and her unwillingness to desert fellow convict and beloved friend Nelly, prevent her from leaving. Yet Emma lives for the days when she will return to England, to face those who cheated and betrayed her. And to Marlow Tanner, the man she loves - and whose tragic child she had borne and then lost.