Handsome young Louis Trevelyan marries the lovely Emily Rowley and they're quite happy until Colonel Osborne arrives and starts to tempt Emily away from her husband. Emily continues to meet Osborne, refusing to make any promises that may imply a stain on her character. Neither side will back down and a gulf begins to grow, punctuated by increasingly bitter rows and failed attempts at reconciliation.

Tensions at the Outhouses are rising, but Emily is as determined as ever not to admit to any wrongdoing. Osborne, a vain man flattered to be linked to a beautiful young woman, visits the house to enquire after her. Reverend Outhouse turns him away without seeing Emily, but Bozzle, who has been embellishing the evidence of an affair to please his master, nevertheless reports this visit to Louis in Italy. Louis demands that his son be sent to live with him.

Louis arrives in London, unkempt, dishevelled and friendless, driven by his obsession that his wife has betrayed him. When Emily meets him in the hope of a reconciliation, she is shocked by the deterioration in his health. They try to resolve their differences, but the attempt founders, and a settlement seems further off than ever.

Louis returns to Italy with his son, and Sir Marmaduke reluctantly agrees to allow Hugh to try and track him down again. Meanwhile, in Wells, a lonely Aunt Stanbury sends her maid to Nuncombe with a peace offering for Dorothy. She arrives to find Brooke, who has refused to accept Dorothy’s letter and has persuaded her to marry him despite her aunt’s embargo. Elsewhere, a desperate Gibson confesses to Mrs French that he cannot go through with his marriage to Camilla.