When Mick Todd, a young miner from a long line of union men, offers the Brassbank pit manager's unruly daughter Carol a life on his motorbike, history is the last thing on both their minds. But the enmity between their families runs as deep as the coal seams that are Brassbank's lifeblood and, when the couple announce they are lovers, all hell breaks loose in both families. But the storm their defiant relationship provokes is nothing compared to those they will face together in the future. For 1984 is the year of the miners' strike, which changes the north-eastern town forever, leaving tragedy in its wake. And increasingly it seems as if this battle that is dividing the country, threatening the survival of their community and splitting brother from brother, could also destroy Carol and Mick's hard-fought-for marriage...