Cardiff in the late 1800s is grimy, crowded, and grey, and Ellen, a domestic, dreams of escaping her dreary life there for the sea. When she falls in love with Samuel, a ship's cook from Barbados, she is able to fulfil her fantasy by running away with him on a ship bound for the bright excitement of San Francisco. Life at sea is brutal and dangerous, but it is a place where they can be free... Until circumstances force Ellen home, and the hardships of working class life and racism begin to poison their lives. Salt is based on the lives of Kean's great-grandparents who married in 1878. It is their love story.