We meet the Hardacre and the Fairchild families in the town of Utterly. Bradley Hardarce has a monument unveiled to his father but, George Fairchild wished he hadn't.
Bradley builds a memorial bath house for the town, and Austin has ambitions to rule the entire Hardacre empire with the new explosive developed by Bradley in his hands.
Tragedy befalls the Memorial Bath House, and Isobel is having an affair with one of the miners. Hard times are all around and the miners are now on strike and Agnes is the leader. Bradley must find a way to stop the strike without costing him anything.
Isobel wants to marry Jack Fairchild, and Morris has his sights set on young Matthew Fairchild, but Charlotte want him too. Bradley settles the miners strike, then has the mine flooded to get rid of Jack Farchild.
Bradley floods the mine to kill Jack Fairchild so he can't marry Isobel. Jack and the other miners are saved by Charlotte. Austin must make sure Jack doesn't recover.
Jack is saved from the mine and falls in love with Charlotte. Isobel and Charlotte fight over Jack. Agnes tells Matthew why he can never marry Charlotte. Bradley Hardarce is Matthew's father.
Bradley tries to use SBD (Silent But Deadly) to blow up the cottage hospital. He tricks George Fairchild to be right under it, and gives him the explosive in sugar lumps. Meanwhile, Lady Patience is teaching young Matthew Fairchild all about the facts of life.
The SBD is under the Cottage Hospital, and Austin wants his cut of the action. Bradley refuses the offer, and Austin knocks Bradley out and has him taken to the Cottage Hospital to recover. Bradley wakes up just in time to panic.
Bradley panics when he finds himself in the Cottage Hospital, and begs to be released. Bradley is released and confronts Austin with his attempt to take over the family business. The Cottage Hospital does not blow up, and both Bradley and Austin seek answers from George Fairchild.
The SBD did not go off, because George put them in cold tea. Bradley and Austin must get those lumps out of George. Doctor McDuff finds an old stomach pump, and George has to cough up the sugar lumps.
Jack is discharged from the hospital a changed man, and now he is in love with Charlotte. Isobel does not take the news well, and neither does Jack's mother.
Bradley wants to be ennobled as a lord, and Jack sells his interest in Isobel to set up his own forge. George has another accident with the new Bouncing Bomb. Matthew tells Charlotte a lie to spare her feelings, and Bradley thinks Lord Mountfast would be the perfect husband for Isobel.
Doctor McDuff thinks he has cured Lady Patience now that she can walk. The King is on His way to lay a foundation stone at the Hardacre Memorial Privy, and Charlotte gets the idea to protest the new rent hikes, by riding through town naked on Brass Beauty. Isobel is determined to join the protest, but Big Tom, the huge chimney, is starting to wobble with Matthew and Jack sitting on top.