Betsy is eighteen years old when she is sold in the market place to farmer Daniel Forrester. Since childhood her beauty has sparked jealousy from many quarters, but she is intelligent and ambitious as well as beautiful and, unlike many in her position, she has been taught to read and write. Betsy's dream is for equality between men and women. Although Daniel does not treat Betsy like a servant as her first husband did, his jealousy, when a young man comes to work on the farm, is extremely disruptive. The two become distant and Betsy, having always felt like an outcast in her family, decides to investigate the death of her father who reputedly died when she was a baby.