Britain is in the grip of a frightful recession... decreasing wages, rising costs, and civil unrest - merely the shareholders ' are more grinning. It's 1783 and Ross Poldark yields by the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall to locate his universe in ruins: his father dead, the family mine since closed, his house shattered and his love vowed to wed his cousin. However, Ross finds that trust and love can be found when you're least expecting this.