North and South

John Thornton is now in serious financial difficulty, while Margaret must deal with losses of her own. Soon she is entirely reliant on the kind Mr Bell and she prepares to leave Milton for good. Can she and Thornton put their differences behind them and acknowledge their true feelings for one another before it is too late?

The strike has ended but both Margaret's friend Bessy and her mother are gravely ill. Now firmly at odds with Margaret, and heartbroken and humiliated by her refusal of him, Thornton is rebuffed when he visits, unaware that she has a special visitor.

The workers of Milton go on strike and Margaret finds herself caught between them and the Thorntons. Tensions rise further when John Thornton brings in labourers from Ireland. Meanwhile, Margaret tells Bessy her family's secret and learns that her own mother's health is deteriorating.

Margaret Hale is uprooted from rural Hampshire to a northern mill town, where her eyes are opened to the social cost of the Industrial Revolution. In Milton, Margaret forms a disagreeable first impression of the owner of the local cotton mill, John Thornton.