Mary Rowett starts her life in the small fishing village of Polperro in the late seventeenth century. After the death of her parents, she is cared for by Elsie, a midwife and white witch. As she grows up, Mary finds herself drawn into a world of smuggling and pagan worship. When Captain William Beawes is shipwrecked on the Cornish coast and loses his cargo of diamonds, Mary"s life is changed for ever. Polperro is Mary"s story: one of love, intrigue and defiance. Thwarted by her grandparents, her brothers, and her lascivious cousin, and finally turned on by the inhabitants of her beloved Polperro, will Mary and William find a place they can both call home?