Four years on from the Poor Law Amendment Act, impoverished economic migrants from the south of England start to arrive at Quarry Bank Mill.
The appearance of John and Rebecca Howlett with their children Jack and Timothy, and Will Whittaker and his grandfather Abe, causes unease in Styal village as the mill workers worry that these desperately poor families will drive down everyone's wages.
The impact of the new law hits home for feisty apprentice Esther Price when she discovers that the beggar in the mill yard is, in fact, her sister Martha.
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