Lady Bidsborough, formerly Jean Jardine of Priorsford, is now the mistress of Mintern Abbas, a grand home in England. She is also the mother of three children. When her husband Biddy feels a moral obligation to accompany a friend, who saved his life during the Great War, on a long trip, Jean decides to spend the winter in her beloved Priorsford. With a menagerie of children, pets, maids and a secretary, she returns to The Rigs, where she once lived in poverty, about 10 years ago, taking care of her three younger brothers.