Reuben R. Burrow is an elderly and respected solicitor, and Abe and Martha Middlemarsh are an elderly and respected farming couple, so when the word divorce is mentioned in this highly respectable set-up, there is justifiably some alarm.
Abe and Martha are about to celebrate their golden wedding when a domestic tiff sends the couple seeking company elsewhere. Fortunately for the golden wedding celebrations and for all concerned, Reuben Burrow is very much a man beneath his sever solocitorial exterior, and a born diplomat into the bargain.