Newcastle 1908. Turning down a proposal of marriage from her older employer is perhaps the first mistake in Ellie Martin's young life. Leaving the professor and running back to a family in trouble is the second. A new beginning awaits them in Durham, but at what cost? Her mother, with a dark secret in her past, mysteriously obtains jobs for her men in an iron foundry - and Ellie finds the magic she dreams of with Adam, son of the iron-master of ill-repute. However, the hatred harboured by Ellie's mother for the Rockwells leads Ellie to believe that she is in love with her half-brother. And so she returns to Newcastle and tries to ignore her heart. Then Adam goes to war. But will love save the day?