Charley doesn't mind that she's had an unconventional childhood. Growing up behind the curtain in London's West End has been full of excitement. Charley has even begun taking a turn on stage. But her dreams of being a performer are shattered when she is sent off to boarding school.

On arrival, Charley discovers that the school is a place where the girls are forced to do unpaid work in order to fill the pockets of the owners.

With the theatre in peril back home, Charley has no choice but to escape, and to make a dangerous journey along the coast in order to get back to all that she loves, and to save her beloved home.