A delay in the marriage of Damon Wildeve and Thomasin Yeobright has allowed Wildeve time for second thoughts. He visits his former love Eustacia and is made to decide which of the two women to marry for Eustacia has a prior claim and is of higer birth. Both women however are found to have rivals for Wildeve and he must act quickly to secure a bride.

Thus the ambitions passions and prejudices of the rural community are played out each character facing dilemmas and moral decisions possessing human weaknesses and struggling against a destiny that they cannot hope either to avoid or to conquer.