Set on the marshy southern coast after the 1748 peace, the novel follows a country clergyman and his resourceful daughter as they are drawn into a violent struggle between revenue officers and organized smugglers and wreckers. When a cutter’s men are wounded in a night skirmish, the daughter nurses the injured and aids inquiries that reveal covert landings, betrayals, and local secrets tied to halls and isolated barns. The narrative moves through skirmishes at sea, perilous rides, imprisonment, shifting loyalties, and revelations that expose accomplices, culminating in confrontations that unpick the smuggling network and settle communal and personal accounts.