A harrowing and engrossing saga set in nineteenth-century Devon - It is 1887, and times are lean. When West Country farm labourer Emmanuel Ladycott and his dairymaid daughter, Tresca, lose their jobs, they head for Tavistock, where Emmanuel hopes to join the hundreds of navvies working on the new railway line. Tresca is determined to forge a new life among the overcrowding and poverty of Bannawell Street. But when Emmanuel loses this new job, Tresca is left on the brink of despair. Will she find the strength to fight for her future?