When Ward Vellacot, an unscrupulous and bored member of Victorian society, seduces Lady Imogen Laing by deception on the night her husband is killed, her reputation is ruined and she agrees to marry him for the sake of their child. Ward is killed while hunting and Imogen dies in childbirth, and the orphaned George Vellacott is brought up on a remote Highland estate. Vellacott grows up to be benevolent and idealistic, but his altruism often leads him to neglect those closest to him.