Sarah Ormerod is threatened with the workhouse, and Emma Brierly comes into her dismantled cottage to comfort her with the idea that the Vicar may be able to save her. A curate has to tell Sarah that nothing can be done. Then Sam Horrocks, a soft-hearted, soft-headed young man, rejected by Emma, adopts Sarah as his mother, to console him by her rough tongue for the loss of his own mother, whose nagging had made his life a happy misery.