'If a man does not have honour, he has nothing,' Edward Loveday declares, but the honour of the Loveday family faces its most serious challenge yet. Japhet Loveday has been tried and convicted of highway robbery. His wife Gwen is desperate to clear his name, but Japhet has made some powerful enemies and her efforts may not be enough to save him from transportation. Edward must also confront a more personal trouble. His wife, Amelia, is still reeling from the shock arrival of Edward's illegitimate daughter, Tamasine, and refuses to have her name mentioned. Will Edward be forced to choose between his daughter and his wife? Meanwhile Tamasine herself has fallen in love with the handsome Rupert Charlton, but when the truth of her parentage is revealed, a vendetta breaks out between the two families that threatens to destroy their relationship. Will loyalty and honour eventually triumph? And at what cost to the family's happiness and future?

Cornwall, 1793. With Adam still at sea and St John banished to America, Japhet Loveday has fled to London to forget the heartache of his love affair with Gwendolyn Druce. Cast adrift, he finds himself drawn into the dangerous world of the city's gambling dens and, when he runs out of money, turns to highway robbery to make a living. As his life spirals out of control he seeks comfort in a passionate affair with actress Celestine Yorke, but when Gwen herself arrives in London Celestine's ardour soon turns to obsessive jealousy and she vows to ruin Japhet. Meanwhile, Edward and Amelia's marriage is rocked by the arrival of his illegitimate daughter Tamasine, who has come to claim her place in the family. Can the Lovedays rise above the turmoil which seems set to destroy them?