[2] For a while time stands still, and these individuals, according to their possessing qualities of good or evil, find their ultimate reward.

[3] In the early evening of 20 November 1923, Mr. Weston and his younger colleague Michael drive in their Ford van to the top of a hill overlooking the village of Folly Down; Michael switches on a lighting system connected to the vehicle's battery, and the phrase "Mr. Weston's Good Wine" is displayed in the sky.

Ada Kiddle, the eldest daughter, was taken by Martin and John Mumby one summer under the oak tree on the green, with the encouragement of Mrs. Vosper, and drowned herself when winter came.

Mrs. Vosper, who likes to see that girls are taken by men under the oak tree, encouraged the same to happen to Phoebe and Anne.

She was killed when a card depicting an angel, which Tamar had bought when in town with her mother, fell onto a railway line and Alice tried to retrieve it.

Luke Bird was once a brewer's clerk, but he preached against drink and lost his job; he came to live in Folly Down and started converting the farm animals to Christianity.

In the Angel Inn, Mr. Mumby, Mr. Kiddle, Mr. Meek the local shopkeeper and Mr. Bunce the landlord talk about whether it is Mr. Grunter or God who is responsible for the babies in the village.

After Luke leaves he meets Jenny in a lane and asks her to love him, but she runs off; he wonders if he should be brutal, like the way the Mumby sons ill-treat their horses.

Mr. Weston takes Martin and John Mumby to the church, saying he has wine there for them; he shows them the body of Ada Kiddle.

Mr. Grunter, who went to the church when he noticed it was lit for the wedding, and disinterred the grave of Ada Kiddle for Mr. Weston, walks to the inn; on his way he sees the oak tree.

After Mr. Weston has left, he finds a flagon of wine where the bible used to be; drinking, he is filled with gentle melancholy.

Mr. Weston asks Michael to drop a burning match into the van's petrol tank; in the smoke, they disappear into the sky.