After being evicted from their apartment, they struggle for years to survive while living on the streets of New York City. Distraught, Margret turns to her church for guidance. Sister Mary Agnus convinces Margret her children will be better off if she turns them over to the Catholic Foundling Aid Society under the care of their aid worker, Mrs. Kelly, for placement in a new home. Little did she know her children would end up on The Orphan Train heading into the Wild West. Taken from the only home they have ever known, Elizabeth and Conner MacBride are frightened and homesick. When Elizabeth finds herself in trouble after a run in with the foundlings home's director, Sister Mary Clare, and bullied by one of the other children, Mrs. Kelly puts her job on the line to get Elizabeth and her brother on The Orphan Train and find them a new home in the wild western territories.