Northern England in the 19th century: Young Katherine lives trapped in a loveless marriage with a rude country nobleman and spends her days practically alone with her black servant in stuffy rooms. When her husband travels, Katherine meets Sebastian, a stable boy, as she takes her first steps towards freedom: the beginning of a violent affair, which she lives out more and more unabashedly until her vicious father-in-law intervenes. But Katherine is determined not to be told what to do anymore.

It comes as a huge shock to Ariane when she finds out that she is pregnant. After all, the young and successful judge lives according to a strict moral code and is a dedicated single woman. To add to the confusion, the child's father turns out to be, of all people, a criminal whom Ariane had prosecuted.