It is the early nineteenth century and times are hard: merchants in Yorkshire seek expansion at the expense of others, and lairds in Shetland expel their crofters to turn their land over to sheep, condemning them to lives of poverty or the hardships of passages to an unknown life in America. Ambition overrides family relationships, thrusting people into conflict that has far-reaching repercussions, and separation plunges the lives of two people into upheaval and uncertainty. The re-discovery of a lost love brings joy and hope, but can they survive betrayal across 2500 miles of land and sea or will they be snatched away before they can be taken?