The action takes place in New England on the farm of Effraim Cabot in 1850.

In spring, old Cabot unexpectedly leaves somewhere, leaving the farm to her sons - the elders, Simeon and Peter (they are under forty), and Ebin, born in his second marriage (he is about twenty-five). Cabot is a rude, stern man, his sons are afraid and secretly hate him, especially Ebin, who cannot forgive his father that he plagued his beloved mother, burdening him with overwork.

Father is absent for two months. A wandering preacher who came to the village next to the farm brings the news: old Cabot got married again. According to rumors, the new wife is young and pretty. The news prompts Simeon and Peter, who have long dreamed of California gold, to leave home. Ebin gives them money on the road, provided that they sign a document in which they renounce their rights to the farm.

The farm originally belonged to the late mother of Ebin, and he always thought of her as his own - in the future. Now, with the advent of a young wife in the house, there is a threat that everything will go to her. Abby Patnam is a pretty, thirty-five-year-old woman full of strength, her face betrays passion and sensuality of nature, as well as obstinacy. She is delighted that she became the mistress of the land and home. Abby enthusiastically says "mine," talking about all this. She is very impressed with the beauty and youth of Ebin, she offers friendship to a young man, promises to establish his relationship with his father, says that she can understand his feelings: if she were Ebin, she would also be wary of a new person. She had a hard time: orphaned, she had to work for strangers. She got married, but her husband turned out to be an alcoholic, and the child died. When her husband died, Abby even rejoiced, thinking that she regained freedom, but soon realized that she was free only to bend her back in other people's houses. Cabot's proposal seemed to her a wonderful salvation - now she can work at least in her own house.

Two months have passed. Ebin is deeply in love with Abby, he is painfully drawn to her, but he fights with feeling, is rude to his stepmother, and insults her. Abby is not offended: she guesses what kind of battle is unfolding in the heart of a young man. You resist nature, she tells him, but she takes her own, "makes you, like these trees, like these elms, strive for someone."

Love in Ebin’s soul is intertwined with hatred for an uninvited guest who claims to be a house and a farm, which he considers his own. The owner in it defeats the man.

Cabot blossomed, rejuvenated, and even somewhat softened his soul in his old age. He is ready to fulfill any request of Abby - even to expel his son from the farm, if she so wishes. But Abby least of all wants this, she passionately strives for Ebin, dreams of him. All she needs from Cabot is a guarantee that after the death of her husband, the farm will go to her. If they have a son, it will be so, Cabot promises her and offers to pray for the birth of the heir.

The thought of a son deeply settles in Cabot's soul. It seems to him that not a single person has understood him in his entire life - neither his wife, nor his sons. He did not pursue easy profit, did not seek a sweet life - otherwise why would he stay here on the rocks when he could easily settle in chernozem meadows. No, God sees, he did not seek an easy life, and his farm is rightfully, and all the talk of Ebin that she belonged to his mother is nonsense, and if Abby gives birth to a son, he will gladly leave everything to him.

Abby makes an appointment with Ebin in the room that his mother occupied during her lifetime. At first, this seems to the youth blasphemy, but Abby assures that his mother would only wish him happiness. Their love will be the revenge of mother Cabot, who slowly killed her here on the farm, and having avenged, she will finally be able to rest calmly there, in the grave. The lips of lovers merge in a passionate kiss ...

A year passes. There are guests at the Cabot house, they came to a feast in honor of the birth of the son of the owners. Cabot is drunk and does not notice malicious hints and outright ridicule. Peasants suspect that the baby's father is Ebin: since the young stepmother settled in the house, he completely abandoned the village girls. Ebin is not at the holiday - he sneaked into the room where the cradle is standing, and looks with tenderness at his son.

Cabot has an important conversation with Ebin. Now, the father says, when they had a son with Abby, Ebin needs to think about getting married - so that there is where to live: the farm will go to the younger brother. He, Cabot, gave Abby the word: if she gives birth to a son, then after his death everything will go to them, and he will drive Ebina away.

Ebin suspects that Abby played a dishonest game with him and seduced on purpose to conceive a child and take his property. And he, a fool, believed that she really loved him. All this he brings down on Abby, not listening to her explanations and assurances of love. Ebin swears that tomorrow morning he will leave here - to hell with this damned farm, he will get rich anyway and then he will return and take everything from them.

The prospect of losing Ebin terrifies Abby. She is ready for anything, if only Ebin believed in her love. If the birth of a son killed his feelings, took her only pure joy, she is ready to hate an innocent baby, despite the fact that she is his mother.

The next morning, Abby tells Ebin that she kept her word and proved that she loves him more than anything. Ebin does not need to go anywhere: their son is no more, she killed him. After all, the beloved said that if the child was not there, everything would remain as before.

Ebin is shocked: he did not want the baby to die. Abby misunderstood him. She is a murderer, sold to the devil, and there is no forgiveness for her. He immediately goes to the sheriff and tells everything - let her be taken away, let him be locked in the cell. A sobbing Abby repeats that she committed a crime for Ebin, she will not be able to live apart from him.

Now there is no point in hiding anything, and Abby tells her awakened husband about the affair with Ebin and how she killed their son. Cabot looks at his wife in horror, he is amazed, although he had previously suspected that something was going wrong in the house. It was very cold here, so he was drawn to the stable, to the cows. And Ebin is a weakling, he, Cabot, would never have gone to inform his woman ...

Ebin is on the farm before the sheriff - he ran all the way, he terribly repents of his act, in the last hour he realized that he was to blame for everything and also - that he was madly in love with Abby. He offers the woman to run, but she only shakes her head sadly: she needs to atone for her sin. Well, says Ebin, then he will go to prison with her - if he shares the punishment with her, he will not feel so alone. The approaching sheriff leads Abby and Ebin. Staying on the threshold, he says that he really likes their farm. Great land!