1905, India. Clarissa Belhaven and her younger sister Olive live a charmed life on their father's tea plantation. But when the business begins to fail, their future looks uncertain. Young rival businessman Wesley Robson offers a lifeline: he will help save the plantation in exchange for Clarrie's hand in marriage. But her father refuses and, after his death, the girls are sent to his family in Tyneside, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Amidst the dire poverty of Newcastle, Clarrie slogs away to provide for her sister, but longs to one day open her own tea room. After years of sacrifice, her dreams are finally within reach. Then Wesley Robson comes back into Clarrie's life, bringing with him a shocking revelation and the power to change her world for ever...