The three main women characters are introduced in the first chapter. When the story opens Harriet Smales is lying unconscious on the school room floor, Ida Starr having hit her with a slate. Harriet has taunted her about her mother's occupation (she is a prostitute) and Ida, who has a loving relationship with her mother, retaliates. Ida has to leave school and we pick up the story seven years later when she makes the acquaintance of Osmond Waymark.
