Wesley Curnow, a young Cornish miner, arrives in the United States to seek an uncle who is working on the mines in Missouri. Taking passage on a boat from New York, bound for New Orleans, he meets up with a charismatic U.S. marshall who is en route to the western territories to bring law to the area.

Mike Pannett used to work the beat in Central London - tackling drugs and knife crime - so when he moved back to Yorkshire he was hoping for a quieter life. But it seems the moors and villages of his native county aren't as sleepy as he once thought.

1922. Lady Emily Fitzallan has returned to the country house where she spent her childhood for a family wedding. Emily, who has lately been living abroad, finds that Leysmorton Manor brings back many memories, especially of her elder sister Clare, who vanished one day after going for a walk, never to return.

1649. Captain Kit Faulkner, bound to the Royalist cause, has been living in exile in the Low Countries, having escaped Parliamentarian forces in the company of Prince Charles and Katherine Villiers. Faulkner's fortunes now turn on his ability to support himself and Katherine with the tiny rump of the Royal Navy that remains loyal.