“‘Little gal,’ he repeated, ‘air ye all alone in the world?’ This time the sound resolved itself into an unmistakable sob.”

With these words we are introduced to young Doris Avery. Newly orphaned, penniless, and without a single friend, Doris is sent to Waverly Ridge where she has been hired to work in a farm household. With her mother’s last words, “Remember, dear, you are God’s little girl,” echoing in her mind still, Doris enters service in a house full of strangers. Many are ambivalent toward her, all are lonely, and some fill the house with hate.