On the border of the English counties of Devon and Somerset, John Ridd's father is a yeoman farmer murdered in cold blood by a member of the notorious Doone family. John is besotted with Lorna, the granddaughter of the head of the Doone clan, who is to be forced to marry the evil Carver Doone. John helps Lorna escape, but circumstances lead to the discovery that she is not a Doone after all, and the newfound heiress moves. But the Monmouth Rebellion finds John wrongly accused of treason and he has to clear his name in London, where he finds Lorna once more and where their love is rekindled....