North & South (TV Serial) - Plot

Plot

Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) and her parents Maria (Lesley Manville) and Richard (Tim Pigott-Smith) move to the fictional industrial town of Milton, Darkshire, in the north of England because her father, a clergyman, decides to leave the Church of England and become a Nonconformist. Thanks to his friend, Mr. Bell (Brian Protheroe), he is able to find a house and gains employment as a private tutor. One of his pupils is local mill-owner John Thornton (Richard Armitage), who gets off to a bad start with Margaret when she witnesses him beating up a worker whom he has caught smoking in the mill. Gradually, Margaret gets used to Thornton, but his mother Hannah (Sinéad Cusack) and sister Fanny (Jo Joyner) disapprove of her, believing her southern ways haughty and alien to the customs of the North. In the meantime, Margaret attempts to do charitable work among the working classes, and thus comes into contact with Nicholas Higgins (Brendan Coyle) and his daughter, Bessy (Anna Maxwell Martin), whose health has suffered from the effects of working in the mills. Margaret learns that, when Bessy became ill at Hamper's Mill, her father moved her to Marlborough Mills, Thornton's mill, because the working environment is better. In a separate meeting with fellow mill owners, Thornton says he has a wheel for ventilation in all of the rooms of his factory, despite the fact that it costs a great deal of money. The other industrialists have refused to install a wheel because of the expense.

Margaret notices that her mother is becoming ill, and that she has been seen by a doctor several times. Mrs Hale insists that she wants to see her son Frederick (Rupert Evans) before she dies. Margaret is aware that Frederick was involved in a mutiny and that he cannot return to England without risking his life. However, without telling her father, Margaret writes to her brother in Cádiz, Spain, to tell him that their mother is dying. Margaret calls on the Thorntons to ask to borrow a water-bed for her mother and is trapped while mill workers riot during a strike. When the angry mob threatens John's safety as he attempts to calm them down, Margaret defends him from the rioters and is injured in doing so.

Margaret recovers and returns home, never telling anyone about what had happened at the Mill, mainly to protect the health of her mother. When Thornton proposes to her the next day, she scorns him, thinking he believes himself superior because of the difference in their financial circumstances. He denies this and tells her that he is in love with her, but she insists that her actions were not personal.

Meanwhile, Bessy Higgins dies and Thornton stops coming for lessons from Mr. Hale. To provide a distraction for Mrs Hale, and for herself, Margaret visits the Great Exhibition with her Aunt Shaw (Jane Booker), her cousin Edith and Edith's husband. Margaret meets Thornton at the exhibition, where he is discussing the machinery with a group of gentlemen, all of whom are listening with great respect and admiration for his simple good sense. Margaret is embarrassed to meet Thornton so soon after her rejection but defends him when Henry Lennox (John Light), Edith's brother-in-law and an admirer of Margaret, tries to belittle him for being in trade. Henry's sophistication and reliance on fashionable wit and sarcasm compares unfavourably with Thornton's honesty when Margaret sees them together.

When Margaret returns home, her mother has taken a turn for the worse and might not live long. Margaret's brother arrives just in time to see his mother on her death-bed. While Frederick is still in the house, Thornton comes to visit his friend Mr Hale, but he cannot be allowed in, in case he sees Fred. Thornton interprets this as Margaret refusing to see him. The family's servant, Dixon (Pauline Quirke), sees a former member of Frederick's crew in Milton town, and it is decided that Frederick must leave at once, before he is discovered and arrested. He and Margaret are seen together at the railway station by Thornton, who draws the wrong conclusion.

Thornton gives employment to Higgins after Bessy's death and master and hand get along surprisingly well, despite their differences. They come up with a philanthropic plan to feed the workers cheaply, and Thornton comes to a greater understanding with his workers as they share ideas. However, because of the problems caused by the strike, Thornton's business is in trouble, and he is forced to close the mill.

Margaret's father dies and she leaves the north to stay with relatives in London, but her godfather, Mr Bell, makes over his fortune to her when he finds out that he has a terminal illness and chooses to move to Argentina, for the better climate. Margaret therefore becomes the owner of Marlborough Mills and John Thornton's landlord. Thornton, having discovered the truth about Fred from Mr Higgins, goes south to see Margaret's home town, and on the way back meets her returning from a visit to the north. She proposes a business deal by which the factory can be reopened, after this the two share a kiss. Their final love scene takes place on the railway station platform with both going "home" to Milton.