Illiterate farmer Tom Richards advertises for a housekeeper. Edna Johnson takes the post and they seem destined for happiness until they encounter the destructive forces of jealousy.

The Honourable Gerald Laughlin finds himself locked in a power struggle between Nathaniel Crabbe's daughter, Orianda, and Crabbe's mistress Lizzie, under the roof of his inn the Black Dog.

Harvey Witlow's mother cannot understand why Harvey has chosen to stand by his longtime sweetheart Sophy Daws and reject the advances of well-to-do Mary.

Stella Bartholomew is disillusioned with her husband's weekend obsession with the 'simple life' at their country retreat, until Roger comes to help around the house.

Dover, summer 1919: Christine's mother runs a boarding house, in which Christine feels like the dull aspidistras which clutter the rooms, until the dashing Captain Blaine arrives to find rooms for his rich aunt. Christine falls in love for the first time, and undergoes a jarring change from innocence to corruption.

Following his father's death, George Pickard has a strange dream where his father tells him he's travelling to the small town of Skelby Moor, where he learns both the positives and negatives of his lineage.

Henry Batley, a bored young journalist in a small town, is attracted to Davenport sisters Christie and Sophie, whilst younger sister Tina is determined to make him hers.