Falsely blamed for a mining accident in England, the engineer James September is exiled to an isolated silica mine in the Portuguese mountains. It is 1882 and he finds that life in the primitive mining village is more than he bargained for, a place where repressed lust and superstition are rife.
James' troubled past comes back to haunt him and he must struggle with the results of a sinful relationship and the terrible price he has to pay for his transgression. Before long the mountains are set alight with other dangers as Spanish brigands invade and James and a handful of survivors must flee their wrath.