When tragedy strikes, there's only one place she can go. After the death of her drunken father in North Yorkshire, newly-orphaned 8-year-old Mirren Gilchrist is sent to live with estranged relatives in the heart of the Dales. Struggling to adjust to the unfamiliar rural lifestyle, she grows tough and resentful. She finds solace in World's End, a dilapidated stone cottage at the edge of the moor. As the years pass, Mirren falls in love, marries and begins a family with roguish and handsome Jack - but the arrival of war throws her life into turmoil once again. Jack returns from leave a changed man, whose dependence on alcohol is all too familiar for Mirren. Whilst he sinks deeper into depression, Mirren struggles to cope with the violent, cruel stranger she married. Then tragedy strikes and history looks set to repeat itself ...