Fiery Agnes Boyd and quiet, motherless Rachel Donaldson have been best friends since their Dundee schooldays. Both girls are determined to escape from the poverty their families endure. Thwarted in her ambition to become a teacher, Rachel goes to work as a maid - in the Perthshire home of her mother's estranged family. Soon she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the handsome village doctor, Peter McGregor. Who seems to be beyond her reach . . . Agnes too becomes a housemaid, but she is determined to marry for money and status, not for love. So why can't she forget about young Tommy Kingsley?