In which the ancient tranquillity of the Worsted Skeynes estate is quietly disturbed by the unspoken anxieties of its inhabitants, as the weight of personal hopes and social duties quietly bears upon them like the steady, unyielding seasons. Amidst this delicate tension, a sudden conflagration at Peacock’s farm draws the Squire and the Rector into a shared, humbling confrontation with the frailty of life and the bonds that hold community and class together.