Seventeen-year-old Astor thinks she is about to wed the handsome plutocrat Lorrain Swale. But to her horror, her mother and stepfather abandon her, and she finds herself a lowly governess in the Swale household. Treated with contempt by the whole family, Astor is determined to escape. Help arrives unexpectedly in the form of the charismatic and mysterious Verrol. Together they plunge into the slums of Brummingham and find themselves in a street band, making wild music - a new kind of music that takes the world by storm. But the Swale brothers haven't finished with them yet ... A story of changing fortunes, romance and the power of music.