West Yorkshire, 1926

It's spring and following her training in Steeple Street, Agnes Sheridan has been assigned her first post as a fully qualified Queen's Nurse to the West Yorkshire mining village of Bowden Main. She is looking forward to making her mark as the village's first district nurse, not to mention escaping the squalid slums of Leeds where she trained.

Agnes arrives in the village wanting to make a difference, but she finds herself treated with suspicion. The close knit community is dominated by the looming presence of the coal pit, and to the pitmen and their families Agnes is just another servant of the wealthy Haverstock family who own the mine. The locals would rather put their trust in resident healer Nella Black, than a snooty district nurse.

Just as Agnes feels she's making headway, the General Strike throws Bowden Main into turmoil. As the pit closes down and the miners and their families face hunger and hardship, Agnes finds her loyalties tested. It's time to prove whose side she is really on and to fight for her place in the village . . .