A sultry night on a Barbados sugar plantation and an incident ending in murder has repercussions for both the Strong family and the child conceived that night.

Following her mother’s death and a promise by one of the Strong brothers Blanche is taken to Bristol – she thinks to join the family but instead ends up as a scullery maid.

It’s here she meets the handsome sea Captain Tom Strong who was adopted by a member of the Strong family some years before.

Jealousies and rivalry threaten to tear the family apart especially when Blanche too is favoured by one of the brothers, a man keen to make amends for what happened in Barbados on a night when he was young.