When the potato famine devastates Ireland, an independent girl joins her aunt and sister in America.

		Friday, July 9, 1847, Lowell Mrs. Abbott's house is so near the mills we were able to walk there... I never dreamed earthly hands could make anything that big. It looked to me like all the people in Ireland could fit inside. 'Twas like a fortress. There were smokestacks blowing their blackness heavenward and darkening the sky. I felt cold although the day was warm. A shudder rippled through my body. There is nothing to be afraid of, I told myself. What could be worse than what I had already seen back in Ireland? I had to go through those gates.