In 1796 a pregnant, unmarried and suicidal teenager called Martha Morgan is plunged into a world of violence and corruption in the “Wild West” of Wales when she becomes Mistress of a ruinous small estate. She has implacable enemies who are driven by ancient family feuds. She loses her baby and her husband. Somehow she survives, and with the help of the mysterious wizard Joseph Harries she comes to terms with her own supernatural powers. Assisted by assorted eccentric and disreputable "angels" she tries to protect her family and her inheritance from prowling predators. She fights endlessly for the rights of the downtrodden. Over the course of 60 years, several love affairs and many involvements in the great events of the time, she becomes an incorrigible matriarch who outlives all of her enemies. At last she goes to her grave in a manner of her own choosing. She is, of course, Mother Wales, and her Plas Ingli estate is Wales itself .