It is 1915 and in the prosperous suburbs of Glasgow, Adam Monkton takes over as head of his family's building firm. He resents his wife, Christina, who trapped him into marriage to escape her own oppressive upbringing. But his feelings begin to alter as she throws herself into property development and displays a surprising business acumen.
Meanwhile he is still strongly drawn to Annalie Gordon, the passionate, strong-willed servant girl who bore his first child. Struggling to survive in the slums of the Gorbals, she longs to be with the man she truly loves. But her rival is equally determined, and a woman of property ...