Emily Murdoch is looking forward to one of her favourite times of the year: the four-day celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday. Her excitement at the approaching festivities is tempered by her disappointment that her coveted bicycle may now be an impossibility and that Hing has decided to leave the Murdoch household. She has also had a falling-out with her best friend, Alice.

On May 26, Emily, her family and friends climb on board streetcars for the ride to Esquimalt to witness the climax of the holiday celebrations. As Car 16 rolls onto the Point Ellice Bridge, the centre span of the bridge collapses, and the streetcar?packed with more than 120 passengers?plunges into the Gorge.