The year is 1786 and in the quiet countryside of Mere in Wiltshire sits 'The Willows', a small estate whose sole produce has being the growing of flax. It has been the current family's home now for three generations, since it was inherited by George MacMartin in 1716. Elizabeth Hamilton - the present owner - and her son Stewart had lived alone there until a cousin; Alexander was taken into the family when Stewart was 12.
Life there has not always been peaceful, and for the last 21 years the house has held a secret from the past which has been kept safely hidden even from Stewart. His Father Andrew Duncan, who left when Stewart was just 3 years old, has been privy to this, and has used this secret many times to extort money from his wife Elizabeth to feed his gambling addiction.
Stewart Hamilton the son is impetuous by nature, but he is also a man of honour and justice who fights for those less able to defend themselves. As he says of himself 'I have a hasty tongue, ' and this has been his downfall many times.
It is after Stewart marries that his life is turned into chaos, as by rescuing a young aristocratic girl Catherine Portman whilst on a journey to Exeter, it initiates a succession of vengeance and hatred against him and his family that lasts for a little over three years.
During the course of that time there are still many secrets to be to be unveiled, some good, some life threatening, some life changing, but it is how they reveal themselves that transforms the lives of many people irrevocably.....