This is a lighthearted mystery story involving two Victorian women from different walks of life who meet and become friends while trying to discover the identity of a young girl found unconscious on a canal wharf. Annie is a young woman who owns and runs a canal boat while looking after her younger siblings and Isabella is an older lady of independent means who has inherited a factory from her father.
 Both women are strong willed and hard working and their circumstances are very different yet they are able to work together to solve more than one mystery in the book.