Lizzie Conway has clawed her way out of the worst slums of the Gorbals, all for the sake of her three daughters, her most prized possessions. She would do anything to protect Polly, Babs and poor, deaf Rosie. In this tough part of Glasgow, there are many dangers - physical and moral - facing women. And the girls themselves seem sometimes to be determined to make marriages as unwise as the one that landed her with crippling debts, three small children and no man to take care of them . . . But Lizzie is a fighter, and - to her surprise - so are more than one of her girls.