It s 1923, and thirteen-year-old Bobby Lee Claremont is leaving the Sisters of Charitable Mercy orphanage in New Orleans, certain a better life awaits in Chicago s glamorous-sounding mob scene. But his plans unravel when he boards his train and meets the recently widowed Nanette O Halloran, her two traveling companions, and a cop who suspects the trio of murdering Nanette s husband. Bobby Lee is sure Nanette s innocent. But what about her companions?