A young country squire's son grows estranged from his stern father and departs to seek fortune, experiencing shipboard life and colonial ventures on the goldfields. His absence provokes local social maneuvering, romantic tensions, conspiracies, and legal entanglements that involve families and acquaintances. The narrative shifts between rural parish scenes, domestic disputes, scenes abroad, and courtroom drama, tracing arrest, trial, and imprisonment as well as escape and restitution. Threads of inheritance, reputation, and the pursuit of wealth test loyalties and prompt shifts in character, ultimately moving toward reconciliation and the reordering of social and familial relationships.