North and South is a largely autobiographical story. A gentile countryside family are shocked by grimy and squalid inner-city conditions. The daughter, Margaret Hale, vows to promote equality for workers, befriending many working-class families in the process.

North and South takes place in fictional Milton, presumed to be Manchester around the mid 1850s. The tale is told from the perspective of young Margaret Hale from the south of England who moves with her parents to Milton, in the north. She is immediately struck by not only the dreariness of the weather but also of the people, the city, and its surroundings. She longs for warmth, sunshine, wild roses, and the carefree days of idleness she enjoyed in the south.