Adeline Whiteoak is at the height of her sway as a vigorous and domineering matriarch of 80. Augusta and her sons, Nicholas and Ernest, are now middle-aged and her younger son, the handsome and indolent Philip, is father to the younger trio at Jalna. Meg is in the midst of an unhappy love affair and Renny, a fiery youth, is full of his first passion. The story turns now to the feud between him and his grandmother, and Cousin Malahide from Ireland.