North & South

Margaret Hale, a 19-year-old lively young girl, and her parents leave the south, when her father Richard resigns as the clergy in Helstone on a matter of conscience. The family moves to Milton in the north of England where Mr. Hale starts working as a private tutor. Margaret and her mother find it difficult to adapt to the north. While Margaret tries to deal with her new home and thereby befriends Bessy Higgins and her father Nicholas, poor local mill workers, she becomes aware of the social inequalities. On seeing John Thornton, a cotton-mill owner, badly treating one of his workers, Margaret's prejudices are reinforced. Thornton, on the other hand, forms a more positive opinion of Margaret.

Margaret has a secret to tell her friend Bessy. Tensions rise as the workers strike over pay, and Margaret is caught between the workers and their employer when she steps in to try and protect Thornton from violent strikers.

Thornton is heartbroken and humiliated, but at least the strike is over. Margaret travels to London to see the Great Exhibition, and Thornton is there on business. Frederick arrives at his mother's bedside as she dies.

Margaret's father dies and she goes to London to live with her aunt. Thornton is in debt and the mill is in financial difficulty. When Margaret inherits her godfather's fortune, will she and Thornton finally acknowledge their love for one another?