Providence, Rhode Island, 1775: At the glorious moment of the American nation's birth, little Betsy Bowen is born into grinding poverty. She is raised in a brothel, indentured as a servant, and when her widowed mother is jailed, she toils at backbreaking labour in a workhouse. Like all new Americans, the indomitable Betsy is driven by dreams--of security, of status, of wealth.... But most of all she dreams of being reunited with her father - none...