Pride, the curse of the Loveday family, may also be its salvation. Adam Loveday and his twin brother St John have fallen out once again, and this time there seems little chance of reconciliation. While Adam struggles to maintain the family shipyard and to develop his new lands at Boscabel, St John, heir to the estate, bears a bitter grudge against him for having won the yard he considers his birthright. Then Desiree Richmond arrives unexpectedly from Virginia, and Adam is appalled to learn that she believes herself to be engaged to St John - though his brother's wife is still living. Will Adam be found guilty by association with St John's lies? Meanwhile, in London, young Tamasine tries to keep faith with Rupert Carlton, the man who's declared his love for her, but who is proving oddly elusive. And on a convict ship bound for Botany Bay, the family's blackest sheep is battling to survive. But both the illegitimate Tamasine and Japhet, the former highwayman, are fiercely proud of the Loveday name and resolved to honour their heritage.