1842: Orry Main leaves the cotton plantation near Charleston that he's heir to on his way to West Point for two years of officer's training. On the way, he meets and falls in love with Madeline Fabray, who agrees to write to him. However, her father needs her to wed Orry's rude neighbor, rich plantation owner Justin LaMotte

George distracts Orry, whose brooding about Madeline wrecks his West Point performance. Bent bluffs his way out of a court-martial but its president eventually bullies him out of West Point. At a party hosted by Tillet Main, Justin scolds Madeline for disagreeing with separatism and arranges for a slave to give public offense so the overseer is allowed to punish him with branding

George and Orry's friendship is severely tested when one of the Mains' slaves escapes. Orry still travels to Pennsylvania for George and Constance's wedding, but when he hears a speech given by Virgilia Hazard at an abolitionist rally, he realizes the depth of their divisions. George's mother decides that he should assume full control at the family iron works, much to his older brother Stanley's dismay

When the Hazards visit Mont Royal, Billy loses interest in Ashton when he sees her with another man, turning his interests to Brett. Virgilia meets James Hontoon's coachman Grady and forms an instant attraction to him. After spending the night together, she helps him run away to the North, which leads to a confrontation with Huntoon

With Madeline locked in her room and nearly starving to death, Justin convinces the doctor to prescribes a daily dose of laudanum despite its addictive qualities. Madeline is soon a very different woman: submissive and with few words to say, having little memory of her love affair with Orry and their decision to run off together. Orry and Brett travel to Philadelphia where he wants to give his good friend George Hazard his share of the profits from their joint cotton mill

Lincoln is elected President, and George pays a surprise visit to Orry to apologize for what his fanatical sister said on their last visit and they resolve their differences, with Orry finally consenting to Brett marrying Billy. Ashton is still out for revenge and arranges for Billy to be attacked on the street, though it's not successful. She then turns to her lover Forbes LaMotte, Justin's nephew, to get the deed done, and Billy and Brett's wedding seems to be just the right day