When at the Pollard's Harvest Supper of 1817, Araminta Glover , a servant girl, is seduced by Jan Honeywood the outcome seems inevitable. Like many servant girls, she will marry her poor suitor and raise a large family on 9 shillings a week. But she's determined to rebel against an impoverished rural life. Putting marriage and Jan firmly behind her, she accepts a post as dairy maid in the home of the strange Mrs Stancy - a thrifty, terrifying and vicious woman who is not what she appears to be.