Faith and Ruby are young, beautiful and inseparable. While Faith can never forget the middle-class values instilled in her as a child, Ruby, the orphanage foundling, has few scruples and even fewer morals. Yet, despite their differences, they've survived a lot together and their friendship has got them through tough times in the early 1920's. But now, without jobs or a home, they decide to try their luck in London, where they soon learn that the streets are paved with anything but gold.

Faith meets Dan, the enigmatic artist with his own dark secrets, who is intrigued by her fresh innocence and wants to paint her. Ruby is hungry for fame and will do anything to succeed as a singer. She becomes embroiled with Ernie, a gangster and owner of a jazz club. As she is pulled further into a spiral of self-destruction, she and Faith are led into danger, which threatens to ensare the innocent as well as the guilty. Success and love come to both women but neither is without its price. Ambition wields its own destructive force and the outcome has far-reaching effects...