1842: Orry Main leaves the cotton plantation near Charleston that he's heir to on his way to West Point for two years of officer's training. On the way, he meets and falls in love with Madeline Fabray, who agrees to write to him. However, her father needs her to wed Orry's rude neighbor, rich plantation owner Justin LaMotte. Orry's letters to Madeline become intercepted by her father so she becomes susceptible to Justin's generous courting. At West Point, Orry meets fellow cadet George Hazard, son of a Pennsylvania manufacturer. The hazing lives up to its reputation, not least due to drill master Elkanah Bent, who takes particular pleasure in humbling the cadets at sword-practice, but is humiliatingly defeated by Orry. George introduces Orry to his Pennsylvania family and their iron factory. After graduating and returning home, Orry stops an overseer from happily whipping a slave, but his father, Tillet, refuses to sack the sadist.