Rhian Gray left her home in Sweyn's Eye to make a life for herself in Yorkshire, where she learnt the skills of spinning and weaving. She also learnt to love Mansel Jack, a charismatic and ambitious mill-owner who wanted to make her his mistress. When Rhian returned to Sweyn's Eye, it was to a town torn apart by anxiety and uncertainty, by the vicissitudes of the Great War. Amidst the anguish and dedication of the women who were left behind, Rhian must decide where her own future lies - in respectable marriage to Heath Jenkins, her former sweetheart - or in the arms of Mansel Jack.