Old friends and new faces join the scholars, rogues and countrymen of Brensham with its crooked village street and crooked church spire. Among its rare individuals who share an obstinacy for making life a romantic and hilarious adventure are those lively landgirls, The Frolick Virgins, Dai, the hymn-singing postman, and William Hart who claimed to be descended from William Shakespeare and loved Pheemy, the young gypsy, not wisely but too well.