Rose’s new husband, Henry Wilder, takes her to his family’s farm in New York. She falls in love with Henry’s brother, Bascom. The family finds out the night before the brothers go off to the Civil War. Henry is reported dead. Bascom returns to marry Rose, but she says it’s too soon. Bascom runs off to Pearl, his old flame and is killed by Pearl’s husband (although nobody knows what happened to him). After the war, Henry returns. He had been a prisoner and ill.