Plot

After serving fifteen years for murder, Callahan returns home to find Sean, his victim's father searching for the body. Callahan soon realises that the only way to get rid of him is to help him dig.

After serving fifteen years for murder, Callahan returns home to find Sean, his victim's father searching for the body. Callahan soon realises that the only way to get rid of him is to help him dig.

Callahan (Moe Dunford) returns to his abandoned family farm-home having served 15 years for murder. His plan to sell up and move on is thwarted by the presence of the victim's father on his land. Convinced that Callahan buried his daughter in the bog land, the father has spent every day of the previous 15 years digging it patch by patch. Knowing the only way he'll get him off his land, and perhaps satisfy his own alcohol-shot recollection of events, Callahan joins him in the grim task. Dark secrets eventually surface.

In 1939, Edith Pretty, a Suffolk landowner, hires Basil Brown, a self-taught archaeologist, to excavate the large burial mounds on her estate in Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge. Initially, Pretty offers to pay Brown the same agricultural wage he received from Ipswich Museum, but he deems it insufficient. She increases her offer by 12% to £2 per week (equivalent to approximately £120 in 2020), which he accepts.

Despite efforts by his former employers to recruit him for a Roman villa excavation, Brown remains committed to Pretty's project. Although dismissed by others for his lack of formal education-he left school at 12-Brown theorizes that the mounds might be Anglo-Saxon rather than Viking, which was the prevailing assumption.

With the help of Pretty's estate workers, Brown carefully excavates one of the more promising mounds. During the dig, a trench collapses, briefly trapping him, but he is rescued in time. Brown forms a bond with Edith and her young son, Robert, sharing mutual interests in archaeology and astronomy. Edith, despite her declining health and warnings from her doctor to avoid stress, supports Brown's work, even though the pay is modest.

Brown uncovers iron rivets, revealing the presence of a ship burial and suggesting it belonged to a person of immense significance, possibly a king. Local archaeologist James Reid Moir attempts to take over the dig but is turned away. Instead, Edith brings in her cousin, Rory Lomax, to assist. News of the discovery spreads, prompting Cambridge archaeologist Charles Phillips to arrive. Declaring the site of national importance, Phillips takes control of the excavation under the authority of the Office of Works.

As World War II looms, Phillips assembles a larger team, including archaeologist Peggy Piggott, who uncovers evidence confirming the site's Anglo-Saxon origins. Brown, initially sidelined, resumes his work after Edith insists on his involvement. Brown later discovers a Merovingian gold coin, solidifying the site's historical significance. While Phillips wants the artifacts sent to the British Museum, Edith, fearing London air raids, asserts her rights as the property owner. An inquest confirms her ownership of the treasure, but her health continues to deteriorate.

Meanwhile, Peggy, feeling neglected by her husband Stuart, starts a romance with Rory. However, Rory is soon called up for service in the Royal Air Force. As Edith's health worsens, she decides to donate the Sutton Hoo treasure to the British Museum, ensuring its preservation and requesting that Brown's contributions be acknowledged.

The story concludes with Brown and his team reburying the ship to protect it. The end credits reveal that Edith passed away in 1942, and the treasure was hidden in the London Underground during the war. It was first exhibited-without mentioning Basil Brown-nine years after her death. Many years later, Brown was finally recognized for his work, and his name is now permanently displayed alongside Edith Pretty's at the British Museum.