The pretty Arnold sisters have grown up on their father's farm. Ellen, loyal and honest, loves the countryside. Gina, impulsive and unreliable, craves excitement and yearns for something more than drudgery and toil. But life for the sisters and their mother is tainted by their father's black moods. His worst treatment is often aimed at Gina, who has given up trying to please the man who seems to despise her. Grindle Hall, the big manor house, is owned...

East Kent, 1830. Catherine Rook takes her peaceful life for granted. Her days are spent at the village school and lending a hand on her family's farm. Life is run by the seasons, and there's little time for worry. But rural unrest begins sweeping through Kent, and when Pa Rook buys a threshing machine it brings turbulence and tragedy to Wanstall Farm. With the Rooks' fortunes forever changed, Catherine must struggle to hold her family together. She...