 Edward MacFell is a prosperous Northumberland farmer with a sadistic bent. He routinely hurts and humiliates family members and workers alike. When he goes too far, he becomes the victim of a murder made to appear an accident. His mild-mannered son Charlie witnesses the crime and protects the killer in the name of friendship and justice. But there is still another witness, Ginger Slater, an embittered farm hand with blackmail on his mind. Charlie is inveigled into a disastrous marriage with Victoria Chapman, the promiscuous county belle, unaware that her sister Nellie is in love with him. Then comes the war. When Charlie tires of his sister s carping and his wife s infidelities, he signs up--as an enlisted man, and finds himself in the charge of a sergeant with an axe to grind: Sgt. Ginger Slater.