Set in the second half of the 18th century, it follows Beatrice Lacey's destructive lifelong attempts to gain control of the Wideacre estate.

Young Beatrice begins an affair with Ralph, the gamekeeper's son, who lives with his mother, Meg, a village witch, in a cottage on the estate.

Threatened by Harry's presence, Beatrice agrees without thinking to a plan Ralph reveals to take the estate for the two of them.

Enraged by the sight of her father's corpse whom she loved so much, she feels guilty, and is afraid that if Ralph were caught he would associate with her.

Celia decides to pass the child off as her own, sending Harry back to England and later writing to him with the "good news".

Despite a newly assertive Celia taking her place as Harry's wife and Lady of Wideacre, Beatrice secures her hold once again over her brother.

Before John can come through on his threats to ruin her, Beatrice uses his drinking to have him dragged off to an insane asylum, his screams that she is an incestuous whore and a murderess fall on deaf ears.

With John out of the way and his £200,000 fortune under her control, Beatrice coerces Harry to go along with her scheme to marry "cousins" Julia and Richard to each other legally and make them joint heirs to the Wideacre estate.

Realising what is happening, Celia frees John from the asylum, bringing him back to Wideacre and managing to restore his medical reputation.

John and Celia do their best to help alleviate the villagers' poverty and deprivation, in contrast to the increasingly corrupt and ruthless Beatrice and Harry.

Finally recognising the enormity of Beatrice's crimes and destructive nature, Celia calls her out and leaves, with Harry and Julia in tow.

John takes Richard and leaves as well, his only remaining desire being to save Celia and the children from the corruptive influence of Beatrice's wickedness.

Unable to retain Wideacre, Beatrice stops at nothing to achieve her goal of staying on the land forever, even going as far as to committing incest and murder.

Her affair with Harry is purely out of greed and passion for the land, and her marriage with John deteriorates when he learns about her secrets.

He marries Celia, whom he grows to love and respect, and raises Julia without knowing she (and Richard) are his inbred offspring with Beatrice.

He kills Beatrice at the end of Wideacre, but stays by the land to help watch over Julia and Richard in The Favoured Child.

Dr. John MacAndrew: A bright and quick witted doctor from Edinburgh, Scotland who falls in love with and marries Beatrice.

When she becomes estranged from Harry, she falls in love with John, with whom she leaves and raises the children until they are murdered by Richard in The Favoured Child.

While she describes Richard as her childhood friend, bully, and betrothed, she has no feelings for him and attempts to escape from him by marrying the first man she falls in love with.

As deceptive and sociopathic as his mother, Richard is determined to fulfill Beatrice's wish of claiming Wideacre by marrying Julia.