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...