The play recreates the turbulent history of Stephen Fox, a Farley child, Civil War soldier, Royalist exile, Restoration Paymaster General, and patron of Chelsea Hospital.
The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, early trade union pioneers, and their families. Following rural unrest in the 1830s, the men of Tolpuddle form a union branch. Six men are arrested and transported to Australia, leaving their families destitute. Pardoned after extensive personal and political campaigning, the families resettle in Essex, and in the face of continued victimisation, emigrate to Canada. It is a story of the triumph of the human spirit over oppression.