In the early 19th century, a young married woman is stricken with a mysterious malady and searching for a cure leads her in to mysteries and tragedy.
Barnet has made an unhappy marriage, Downe a happy one. The lives of the 'Fellow Townsmen' become tragically interwoven.
Like a ghost from the past, the Halborough brothers' drunken father reappears to destroy their image of respectability.
Fate brings Ella Marchmill to rent the rooms of a poet she has always admired. Her admiration gradually turns into obsession.
A tragic rural romance between a soldier who hates the service, and the rustic maid whose love could save him.
Lord Uplandtowers vows to make Barbara his wife, but she has secret plans of her own.