The story of a farming family and a small community adapting to life in the aftermath of the First World War, surviving the changes that the twentieth century brings to rural Devon. The Tamar Valley, 1919: on a small farm a family tussles with the changes the outside world brings to them. The First World War is over and handsome young William Northwood returns home. He tries to forget the horror of the battlefield as he slips back into farming life - immersing himself in the sights, sounds and smells of his beloved countryside. Another world war begins and shatters the peace and tradition of the parish. A new generation is born and propels the Northwood family on through a tapestry of events - love, death and tragedy are woven lyrically around them, while high overhead the larks sing. The arrival of the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 tears the heart out of the local community, while the distant past echoes into the modern day. Will the arrival of Freya Drummond, with her own tragic past, bring new hope to William's son Tom and the Northwood family? Or will the modern world intrude once more and bring lies, and devastation...?