The Woodlanders recap

In Little Hintock, timber merchant George Melbury has long intended his educated daughter Grace to marry honest woodsman Giles Winterborne, but he decides the young doctor Edred Fitzpiers offers greater status. Grace marries Fitzpiers and soon discovers his unfaithfulness, culminating in an affair with the wealthy widow Felice Charmond. Melbury regrets breaking his promise to Giles and tries unsuccessfully to free Grace from her marriage. After Fitzpiers and Felice separate, he returns, and a confrontation drives Grace to seek Giles's protection. Giles gives her his cottage while exposing himself to harsh weather outside so her reputation will remain safe. He becomes ill and dies. Felice is later killed abroad by a former lover. Fitzpiers again seeks Grace, and she finally reconciles with him and leaves Hintock. Marty South, who has quietly loved Giles throughout, remains at his grave and vows that he will not be forgotten.

In the isolated woodland community of Little Hintock, Marty South works late making spars while caring for her ailing father. A barber named Percomb offers to buy her abundant hair for an unnamed wealthy woman. Marty initially refuses but poverty eventually presses her to sell it; the hair is intended for Felice Charmond, the widowed owner of the local estate. Meanwhile, timber merchant George Melbury prepares for the return of his daughter Grace from school. He once promised Grace to Giles Winterborne, an honest woodsman, to compensate for an old wrong against Giles's father. Now he worries that Grace's education has raised her beyond Giles's station. Giles still trusts the understanding and looks forward to Grace's arrival, while Melbury begins to regard the promise as a burden. Grace returns affectionate toward her family but visibly changed by life outside Hintock, leaving her future between a familiar woodland attachment and her father's newer ambitions.

Grace renews her acquaintance with Giles but does not immediately recover their former intimacy. George Melbury notices both Giles's devotion and his daughter's uncertainty. The young doctor Edred Fitzpiers, recently settled nearby, attracts Melbury because his education and family background seem to offer Grace greater social standing. Fitzpiers is intellectually restless and absorbed in unusual medical questions; his request to examine Grammer Oliver's brain after her death alarms the old servant. Marty South's father, meanwhile, is tormented by a tree beside his cottage, believing it connected to his life. Giles has the tree felled to relieve him, but the shock of its sudden absence contributes to South's death. Because the cottage was held only for South's lifetime, Giles loses an important part of his property and security. His reduced prospects give Melbury a further reason to withdraw from the old marriage plan just as Fitzpiers begins to notice Grace.

Fitzpiers becomes fascinated with Grace and uses his position as a doctor to draw closer to the Melbury household. Melbury increasingly encourages the match, persuading himself that Grace's schooling would be wasted on Giles. Grace recognizes Giles's steadiness but is susceptible to the idea that Fitzpiers belongs to the cultivated world for which she has been prepared. Giles understands that the promise is slipping away and withdraws without pressing a claim. Fitzpiers's conduct is less honorable than Melbury assumes: he has a compromising encounter with Suke Damson, a local married woman. He is also intrigued by Felice Charmond, whose wealth and sophistication offer a different attraction. Grace has only partial knowledge of these connections as her father steers her toward the doctor. Melbury formally abandons the intended marriage with Giles, sacrificing an old obligation to his hopes for Grace's advancement.

Grace marries Fitzpiers, while Giles bears the loss quietly and Marty continues her unspoken devotion to him. The marriage soon exposes Fitzpiers's instability. Grace learns enough about his involvement with Suke Damson to distrust him, and his attraction to Felice Charmond grows. Felice, wearing the hair bought from Marty, represents the wealthy and mobile world beyond Hintock that Fitzpiers desires. He pursues her despite his new marriage. Melbury realizes that the social superiority he valued in the doctor offers no guarantee of character and begins to regret discarding Giles, whose loyalty becomes clearer by contrast. Grace is bound by law and convention to a husband whose attention has moved elsewhere, while Giles remains close enough to help but too honorable to exploit her unhappiness.

Fitzpiers and Felice carry on an affair, meeting secretly and making Grace's humiliation public within the small community. Grace turns increasingly toward Giles for sympathy, but both respect the barrier created by her marriage. Furious at the betrayal, Melbury confronts Fitzpiers and seeks a legal way for Grace to separate from him, only to discover how little protection the marriage law offers her. Fitzpiers and Felice finally leave the district together for the Continent. Grace returns to her father's home, effectively abandoned but not legally free. Melbury now openly wishes he had kept his promise to Giles and hopes circumstances may eventually allow Grace to marry him. Giles, whose practical fortunes have continued to decline, remains devoted without demanding any assurance from her.

Fitzpiers and Felice eventually quarrel and separate. Fitzpiers returns to Hintock seeking reconciliation with Grace, presenting himself as repentant, but she and Melbury distrust his change of heart. His legal authority as Grace's husband leaves her vulnerable despite their long separation. During a tense confrontation, Melbury strikes Fitzpiers and fears that he has killed him, though the doctor survives. Grace flees in alarm and seeks protection from Giles. Giles receives her at his isolated cottage and gives the house entirely to her, choosing to sleep outside under a rough shelter so that no one can accuse Grace of impropriety. Cold rain and exposure begin to undermine his health. Grace is safe from immediate pursuit, but the restraint meant to preserve her reputation places Giles in serious danger.

Giles becomes gravely ill after surrendering his cottage to Grace and remaining outside in bad weather. She cares for him, but he dies, ending the possibility of the life that Melbury belatedly wanted for them. Grace and her father mourn both his death and the chain of choices that exposed him to it. Felice Charmond goes abroad and is killed by a former lover, removing the immediate object of Fitzpiers's infidelity. Fitzpiers again approaches Grace, arguing that experience has changed him. Despite Melbury's doubts and the memory of Giles, Grace gradually accepts her husband's renewed courtship and leaves Little Hintock with him. The ending gives no assurance that Fitzpiers's reform will last. Marty South, who loved Giles without ever receiving his love in return, tends his grave alone. She promises to remember him even though Grace and the others are moving into new arrangements, making Marty the final guardian of his worth.

Giles gives Grace the shelter of his cottage while he remains outside in severe weather to protect her reputation. The exposure worsens his illness, and he dies despite Grace's care. Melbury is devastated by the loss of the man he now recognizes as his daughter's truest protector. Felice Charmond has gone abroad, where she is shot and killed by a former lover. With that relationship ended, Fitzpiers returns again, expresses remorse, and gradually persuades Grace to reconcile with him. She leaves Little Hintock with her husband, accepting a renewed marriage whose future remains uncertain. Marty alone continues to honor Giles without divided motives. At his grave she reflects on his loyalty and promises to keep his memory alive, while the other people whose choices shaped his fate move on.