Emma Price has eyes like a summer sky and is as kind and generous as she is beautiful. She is in love with Paul Felton and he with her, but their love seems sure to fail as Emma's father works in the coal mine that Paul will inherit when he comes of age. They are too in love to realise that their different classes mean they can never have a future.
Paul's brother and guardian Carver Felton is ambitious and revels in cruelty. He razes the village of Plovers Croft, pays subsistence wages to his workers and ruthlessly exploits the greed of his peers and his brother's good nature. And one day, Carver decides to get rid of Emma for good by taking the one thing of value she has — her good reputation.
Left with nothing, Emma looks destined for the workhouse, but she has vowed to exact her own revenge on Carver. Who will triumph — the evil Carver, or the humble pit bank wench…
