Glavnaya geroinya, urozhenka Yuzhnoy Anglii Margaret Heyl, vynuzhdena pereehat v severnyy gorodok, tsentr promyshlennoy revolyutsii. Margaret nenavidit novyh «hozyaev zhizni», a vladelets hlopkovoy fabriki Dzhon Tornton stanovitsya dlya nee nastoyaschim olitsetvoreniem zla. Dzhona zhe neuderzhimo vlechet k Margaret, i sama ona vskore nachinaet chuvstvovat simpatiyu k vulgarnomu vyskochke. Geroyam na protyazhenii romana prihoditsya preodolevat mnozhestvo predrassudkov i shire smotret na mir, ne delya ego na chernoe i beloe na sever i yug uchitsya dobrote i chelovechnosti.