The film is set in 1820 (at the start of the reign of , King George 1V as mentioned by Pengallan in his first scene).
Over and above its function as a hostelry, Jamaica Inn houses the clandestine rural headquarters of a gang of cut-throats and thieves, led by innkeeper Joss Merlyn. They have become wreckers They are responsible for a series of engineered shipwrecks in which they extinguish coastal warning beacons, causing ships to run aground on the rocky Cornish Coast They then kill the surviving sailors and steal their cargo.
Made-On-Demand release. MOD (DVD-R)