When beautiful Tessa Harrison and her twin cousins take over their parents' Lancashire cotton mill, their luxurious upbringing has left them unprepared for their new responsibilities. For Tessa, there is an added but forbidden attraction at the mill. Foreman Will Broadbent, with his genuine understanding of the business and its workers, could not be more different from the dashing cousins. Yet, like the twins, he is hopelessly in love with this untameable girl. Their love for Tessa will lead one to death, one to the arms of another woman, a thrid too faint-hearted to take up his inheritance. And Tessa, the girl who could choose any man she wanted, is forced to shoulder more burdens than she could have imagined before she can be united with the one man she truly needs.

This is the story of the love between a daughter of a mill-owner and a weaver. Their love develops and has to struggle for fulfilment through times of terrible distress, violence, and passion.