 When nouveau riche, social climber Mr. Hornblower buys property abutting their estate from the aristocratic Hillcrist family, he promises that the tenant family on that land can live there in perpetuity. The relentlessly pushy Hornblower goes back on his word and evicts them anyway when a second anticipated land deal falls through. When Hillcrist finds out that Hornblower plans to turn the pastoral farmland into a chimneyed factory complex and house blue collar workers on the grounds adjoining his beloved manor, he vows to fight back and never accept the Hornblower Family as equals. After Hornblower outwits Hillcrist in an auction for an additional piece of area property, the aristocratic Hillcrists find their beloved estate totally surrounded by the upstart Hornblower. After Mrs. Hillcrist counters with blackmail involving Hornblower s daughter-in-law and threatens to make salacious details of her past life known unless the debated land is returned, tragic consequences result.