To Annie Gallagher, stories are more than entertainment --- they’re a reminder of her storyteller father. After his death, Annie left Ireland, finding work at Hawkins House. But when authorities threaten to shut down the boardinghouse, Annie fears she may lose her means of funding her dream: a memorial library to honor her father. Furthermore, the postman shows a little too much interest in Annie and in her father’s stories.

Grace McCaffery hopes that the bustling streets of New York hold all the promise that the lush hills of Ireland did not. As her efforts to earn enough money to bring her mother to America fail, she wonders if her new Brownie camera could be the answer. Spread thin between her quest to rescue her mother, do well in a new nanny job, and avoid a hostile local gang intent on intimidating her, Grace must put her faith in unlikely sources to learn the true meaning of courage and forgiveness.