Synopsis
J.C Cunningham, shopkeeper, turns hard and bitter when his father bequeathes the substantial family fortune to his sister Sarah, and leaves the shop business only to him. Determined to make sons George and Dick upstanding members of the community and the Calvinist church to which they belong, he thwarts George's ambition to become a horse-trainer, and decides that Dick will become a minister. As each rebels in their own way, wife Mary quietly despairs, and as the years go by the house becomes one of misery. J.C.'s refusal to change results in the slow collapse of the business, but as the facts of this emerge, Mary finds her voice. Through her efforts, a glimmer of hope presents itself for the future.