When fifteen-year-old Charlotte accepts the position of groom for the horses of impoverished gentry, she discovers there are many ways in which she must prove herself.
In 17th-century London young Tom finds that the ruffian responsible for his uncle's imprisonment and impending hanging is also the only person who can prevent the execution.
Disillusioned by the French Revolution, an idealistic eighteenth-century English student searches for a new cause through which to express his love of freedom.
Jon wants to be friends with Paul but finds herself constantly at odds with him over his efforts to prevent her from becoming acquainted with the strange girl she meets in the woods.
Laura, sent to the country from London to escape the cholera in 1848, tries to help the neglected children of Drouet's asylum she finds eating the pigs' food in her uncle's barn.
