In 1903, Maureen, originally from Ireland, comes to Boston to live with her old friend Sofia and her Italian American family, where the two girls share fifth grade class and various adventures.

"An unusually warm winter day resulted in 2.3 million gallons of molasses flooding the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The disaster killed 21 people and injured 150 others. Rescue missions were launched to save people from the sticky and deadly mess, led by the Red Cross, the army, the navy, and the Massachusetts Nautical School. With the help of hundreds of volunteers over the course of several weeks, the streets were cleaned up....

In 1899, a fifteen-year-old orphan named Hannah obtains employment as a servant in the home of one of Boston's wealthiest families, where she meets a noted portrait painter who seems to know things about her that even she is not aware of, and when she accompanies the family to their summer home in Maine, she feels an undeniable pull to the sea.