Annie Quinn knows that a new life in America is her only chance. In 1847, the only sure way to survive the potato famine is to leave Ireland. With her younger brother Thomas, twelve-year-old Annie must leave her mother and home behind. She'll join her big sister Bridget, a maid in a New York mansion. At least Annie has her father's fiddle to play. But Annie's fiddle is stolen by smooth-talker Finnbarr O'Halloran as soon as she steps foot in New York. And Bridget likes being a lady's maid, but Annie's stuck polishing gleaming tabletops and washing perfectly clean steps under the housekeeper's eagle eye. She has it better off than Thomas, who sleeps in a cellar and works as a stable boy under the greedy Mr. Belzer. Then Bridget goes to Ohio, Thomas runs away, and Annie is fired! And Annie's adventures are only beginning...