Set in 18th century England, A Respectable Trade is a poignant adaptation of Philippa Gregory's controversial novel of love, greed and ambition.

Frances Scott (Emma Fielding, The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries), a well-bred governess, is left penniless after the death of her father. Unmarried and no longer in the first bloom of youth, she accepts a marriage proposal from the awkward, uneducated Josiah Cole (Warren Clarke).

Josiah is a ship owner in the bustling port of Bristol, and to him, the slave trade is a highly respectable one. Unknown to Frances, he is planning to import slaves to England and expects her to train them to serve the rich. But Josiah could not anticipate the attraction his wife would find in Mehuru (Ariyon Bakare), one of the African "cargo," a man of learning, power and dignity-- everything Josiah is not.