Connor O'Brian's dying wish is for his young and beautiful daughter, Rachel, to be taken in by his old friend, Maxwell Connor and his family. Despite the cruelty of Maxwell's wife, Gertrude, her son and Rachel soon fall in love. One morning Rachel and Ross have disappeared, but when an abused Rachel is found wandering the Scottish lanes, it is obvious she hasn't eloped with Ross, as first thought. After years of bitterness and deeply buried secrets, Ross and Rachel are eventually reunited and they begin their life together farming the land on the Glens of Lochandee. They face both happiness and strife; bouts of diphtheria and foot and mouth, affecting both animal and human life. Through the hardship of war and the joy of the land, the Glens of Lochandee survive to give hope and life to another generation and the desires, hopes and secrets of her inhabitants fertilise the land for the future to come.