Peggy Cassidy is a milly, working in the Belfast linen mills alongside her family to just about get by. But Peggy has another job - a secret one. She also works alongside her beloved Aunt Bridget as a handywoman - an illegal midwife, tending to the women of her community in their time of need. When her Aunt Bridget is arrested while they are supporting a local woman giving birth, it sets off a chain of events that will change Peggy's life forever.

Leaving Belfast and her family for the first time, Peggy instead heads to Dublin, where she will train as a proper midwife. There, Peggy can't quite believe the luxuries of her new life - plenty of food, a fine uniform, new friends, and maybe even the chance to fall in love...

But Peggy must keep the truth about her family - and especially, her own past as a handywoman - secret at all times. And when the realities of her life in Belfast - the realities of who she really is - are revealed, will she lose everything she has worked towards?

And will she choose to protect her family, rather than let herself fall in love?