Rachel Smedling is not like the other women in her isolated Pennine village: she is taller stronger & weaves cloth like a man. Without her the household would fall apart for her mother is ailing & her vicious drunkard father seems to hate her so much he would happily offer money to any man who would wed her. When her mother dies Rachel is at the mercy of her increasingly violent father. Her only escape is by marrying a kindly man with whom she finds happiness if not passion & her life begins to seem complete. Rachels growing prosperity infuriates her father & his cronies however & they will stop at nothing to see her destroyed.