Early in the 19th century Lizzie is traumatised by the loss of her entire family in a devastating house fire. Initially taken in and cared for by Dorothea Fothergill, an elderly neighbour, she is later dispatched from her native Herefordshire to an employer in Yorkshire, leaving behind everything she knows and loves. Keeping house for Mr Fothergill, Lizzie's life is comfortable but unrewarding. She overhears Mr Fothergill explaining to one of the village men, Reuben Webster, that he has received an inheritance of a cottage and flock of sheep, on condition that he takes a wife. Lizzie realises...