England, 1766: Abigail is happily married to James, a tobacco trader turned sea captain, and is looking forward to starting a family and settling down in Whitehaven, deep in the Lake District. But after a series of devastating losses, she finds herself in turmoil, with her future suddenly seeming unknownā¦ When James announces that he will captain a ship to Africa and then the Americas for a year, it sparks a series of surprising and heartbreaking eventsāinvolving some of the darkest evils in humanityās history and a tiny, terrified slave girl whoās brought back to England. This helpless child forces Abigail to reconsider everything she thought she knewāand will change her life foreverā¦ Now: When a shipwreck is discovered off the coast of Cumbria, local expert Rachel is brought in to investigate. Her first thought is that this will be a perfect distraction from her troubled marriage and the memories of her past that she is desperate not to think about. But then it becomes clear the wreck is a slaving ship from the 1700sāone that was recorded as sinking in the Caribbeanāand Rachel begins to wonder if thereās more to this terrible mystery than meets the eye. Faced with uncertainty about both the past and present, can Rachel learn from Abigailās extraordinary story and take the first step towards a brighter future of her own?