To the Liverpool of the 1930s came Bridget O'Brien, a young widow with two children, about to be forced to marry a man she had never met. Her destination was the infamous Scotland Road, where people lived lives of deprivation and courage backed by a rich tradition and a folklore they had themselves invented. For Bridget, straight from Ireland, fleeing from a brutal and bigoted father, Scotland Road was, at first, noisy and terrifying. Her sense of isolation was made worse when she met her middle-aged bridegroom, Sam Bell, whose twin sons were older than she was. It was the rough and vibrant Costigan family who first made her welcome. Diddy, and Billy, her docker husband, did their best to ease the young widow into her new life. Anthony, one of her so-called stepsons, also held out the hand of friendship, but Liam, the favourite of his father, had the power to terrify her. Liam was cold, compelling, mysterious and antagonistic. He was also a priest. Through the depression of the 30s and the savagery of the Second World War, the story of Bridie, her daughters and the two men who were to shape her destiny was played out.