1909, Northumberland. Shona has always secretly thought of her husband James's fishing boat as the enemy. She wishes she could ask James to do a different job, a safer job, but it would have made him laugh, and she's too proud to tell him she fears for him every time he goes out. But one day, her worst fears come true. Unjustly blamed for the accident, Shona finds herself alone and friendless in a village that has always seen her as an unwelcome outsider. A world away, Harry Darling has achieved wealth and respectability as a bank manager in Durham, but he has never forgotten the poverty and horror he suffered in his childhood - nor the kindness of a young girl, Shona Hardy, who took him in when he needed help. So when a man slips and dies outside his bank, and Harry recognises him as Tam, Shona's estranged father, his past and present collide, altering both his and Shona's lives for ever.