 In mid-19th century Yorkshire, Hannah Boyle is left with the family of Matthew Thornton, the man her dying mother claims fathered her. Ill-treated by Thornton s bitter and vindictive wife Anne, who views Hannah only as evidence of her husband s infidelity, she is married off to the village butcher, whose waspish mother torments her further. But through her patience, intelligence and strength, she wins her freedom and the man she loves.