1858 - As twenty-year-old Betsy Palmer is crossing the North York Moors to Rosedale a wheel breaks on her trap, leaving her stranded. Jim Fenwick, a supervisor on a nearby mining project, comes to her aid and a special relationship develops between them. In Newcastle, love is also blossoming between Robert Addison and Adele Jordan, but Robert discovers something he fears will ruin many people's lives, so he changes identity and disappears, leaving Adele determined to find him. When Betsy, whose relationship with Jim is struggling, meets Robert and falls in love for the second time, some unexpected and dramatic truths are revealed...