Mary survives poverty and starvation, but when her best friend shoots herself with a stolen rifle, her life falls apart.
When Mary is eight the burden of begging for food begins. When her mother suffers TB, her father falls into drunkenness and she is left to starve with her little four year old sister.
As a teenager she is raped and betrayed by her best friend. She marries and then life falls apart when her best friend shoots herself.. She is betrayed with her child, alone and cast out onto the streets once more. Yet when she needs help she is turned away. She gets a check list, and finally she finds a love, so powerful that it took her breath away. Climbing out of poverty becomes her mission so that she can help children like herself.