Drama series set in the Yorkshire Dales during the 1870s. Annie Quaintain is turfed out of home when her schoolmaster husband's death leaves her widowed and penniless. Shunned by society, and with no family to turn to, Annie is desperate for a place for her and her children to stay. When she hears of jobs going in Culverdale Valley where an enormous viaduct is being built, she sets off with her children Martha and George for the promise of a new life in the vast expanse of the Yorkshire dales. Their journey takes them to a remote shanty town called Jericho, home to a community of navvies.