Running Against the Tide

the long version

1800: With the new century comes a rising tide of optimism, especially in the port of London where the ambitious West India Docks are being built. This modern structure will bring increased prosperity to the shipping companies - but at what cost to the 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. So when Virginia Marcombe, daughter of a great shipping magnate, falls for lighterman Edward Allerdice, storms start to brew across the choppy waters of the Thames...