It was in 1859 that Cristian Martin, a poor blacksmith's son saw villagers who became involved in escapades that ultimately brought them to a trial of a traitor, during which soldiers and many villagers were killed during a scuffle, the boy who admired the ladies gowns of the day, found himself suddenly changed from a boy into a girl, to save him from the law, a role he would continue the rest of his life, when his sister Charlotte bought Anson House and became lady of the manor and making both the boy and herself the richest family in Cornwall. Even though he came to regret his change from man to woman on many occasions and he found romance with another young man of the village Robert Phillips.