Seventeen years have passed and the Lanarkshire mining village of Blacklaw has weathered both depression and the driving ambition of its coalmaster. But at last, falling wages have driven the miners to desperate rebellion... In Edinburgh, Drew Stalker has become Scotland's most eminent young advocate, with the highest honours within his grasp. Only scandal can bring him down - and scandal in the form of his bastard son is about to re-enter his life. His sister Mirrin faces a different threat to her hard-won respectability. As Tom Armstrong's eyesight fails and her farm's future become uncertain, Mirrin must draw on all her courage to survive.