Mr. Tulliver owns a mill on the Floss River in Lincolnshire. He has two children, hot-headed and arrogant Tom and kind-hearted Maggie. Maggie has a friendly relationship with the lame Philip Wakem, a good lad who is deeply fond of Maggie. But Tom cares little for Philip, the result of a long-running feud between Tom's father and Philip's, a wealthy man to whom Mr. Tulliver is in debt. As the children grow to adulthood, the bad blood between Tulliver and Wakem comes to a boil, with tragic results. Tom, now a responsible but still hot-tempered young man, tries to restore the family's lost fortunes, but also tries to stop what he perceives to be a growing romance between Maggie and Philip. But when Stephen Guest, the fiancè of Tom's and Maggie's cousin Lucy, enters the picture, a chaotic clash of romance, family pride, and deception leads to disaster.