Genetta Turner's father orders her to marry Cyrus Sleightholme, to ally the two most powerful jet producing families in Whitby. Genetta, whose childhood friendship with Reuben has deepened into love, refuses Cyrus and cuts herself off from her furious father and brother. After an untimely tragedy, Genetta is forced to raise her children in the slums of Whitby, working in the jet workshop she once expected to own. She falls in love with Tom, a co-worker, but Genetta is determined to return to the comfortable world she once knew on the other side of the river, whatever the cost.