Yorkshire, 1812. The Industrial Revolution is sweeping the country, stirring up the Luddites, a movement set up to overthrow the tyrannical capitalists who are making life harsh for the workers in the woollen mills. In the town of Huddersfield, the lives of those involved with the mill are as intricately interwoven as the strands of wool they manufacture. There is the rich, domineering mill-owner Josiah Denshaw; the poor, peace-loving mill-worker Jess Drake, and the arch-manipulator Mellors, who is both eloquent and vengeful. Through their interplay, whether politically motivated or buffeted by fate, the three men and their families become involved in a floodtide of action that leads, with horrible inevitability, to bloodshed and murder. But evil-doing exacts its own penalty, and Jess is soon forced to see the consequences of his errors visited upon the woman he loves . .