Anne begins a playful but dangerous courtship of shy local heiress Miss Walker, who quickly finds herself captivated by the attention of her charismatic and unusual neighbour. Anne's plan to renovate Shibden Hall is also stepping up a gear, and her determination to sink her own coal mines brings her into the path of local magistrate Christopher Rawson and his brother Jeremiah.

During a visit to York, Anne is delighted when Doctor Belcombe confirms that she is the perfect tonic for Ann Walker's nervous disorder. When the news of a bereavement arrives at Cliff Hill, Ann's desperate reaction makes Anne suspect that there's more to it and that Ann has secrets of her own. As her rivalry with Christopher Rawson heats up, Anne plans to re-open her old coal mines and sink her own shaft.

With Ann Walker's mental health in an alarming downward spiral - and her overprotective relatives watching over her – Anne Lister is forced to contemplate travelling alone, despite her family's warnings that to do so would raise eyebrows. Meanwhile, Anne reopens her coal-mine negotiations with the Rawson brothers, and Thomas Sowden's secret casts a cloud over his budding relationship with Suzannah Washington.