The most southerly point in Dorset, the Isle of Portland, juts out into the sea. In the 18th century, it was connected to the mainland only by the eighteen-mile stretch of the Chesil Bank west to Abbotsbury or an unsteady rope ferry across the Smallmouth Passage to Wyke Regis. It was here that John Winter was born in the June of 1731. The story follows his life and times on the island and his work in farming and quarrying and, when the country called, his service in the newly formed militia. It is a story of war, smuggling and shipwreck. A story of ordinary parish life, domestic chores, cookery and medicine in a land of strange customs and traditions. With a basis in fact drawn from local records, account books, indentures, warrants and parish records, it brings long-lost Portlanders back to life, in a time when very few of them would have ever ventured far from the island. A snapshot in time, 1731 to 1790. Harsh and turbulent but always interesting.