When Crout neglects his duties, a young boy named Timmy loses his hand in a machine; the mill owner's wife nurses him back to health, but the owner is more concerned about how this will reflect on his company.

Esther is sent to court for assaulting Crout; Crout gives Robert shocking news; the Garner sisters are brought over from Liverpool, but the younger sister is deemed too sick to work for the mill.

Esther and Lucy search for Catherine in Liverpool; Esther is locked in a cell when she is captured by Timperly; Robert discovers Daniel is pro-Union.

Lucy and Esther are convinced that Mr Timperley is responsible for Catherine's disappearance; they're determined to expose him, but seem to be blocked at every turn.

Just four years have passed since the end of the first series but now the effects of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which made a distinction between `deserving' and `undeserving' poor, are starting to take hold.

Esther comes of age and leaves the apprentice house, but not before signing her contract of employment. Esther's new home is a small, dirty cellar in Styal village, but it gives her new freedom.