It's 1800 and with the new century comes a rising tide of optimism, especially in the port of London where the ambitious West India Dock is being built. This modern structure will bring increasing prosperity to shipping companies, but at what cost to the humble watermen who currently transport the goods to shore? On the great river the traders and the watermen work together, but away from its banks they are divided by the chasms of class and social expectation. When, therefore, Virginia Marcombe, daughter of a great shipping magnate, falls for Edward Allerdice, an apprentice lighterman, storms soon start to brew across the choppy waters of the Thames.