In 1844 Abingdon, Berkshire, England, John weds Lenore. He drinks far too much and cruelly abuses wife and children. Twenty years later, lying on her deathbed the downtrodden woman tells her grown son George she is not good enough for Heaven. In 1889, not long after Lenore's death, George marries Ellen. While he and Ellen start up and run a successful milk dairy for ten years he spends any spare time seeking a Christian church which does not condemn a sinner and therefore, perhaps his deceased mother, to Hell. An exciting new controversial sect lures him but meetings take place in Reading, a distant location. Fully won over, George ups and sells the dairy and moves the reluctant family close to the Russelites' meeting place. Income dwindles. Seeking satisfactory work he has everyone including a new son-in-law immigrating in 1913 to Toronto, Canada. The son-in-law is Jack, husband of daughter Gertie. Jack will himself become addicted to the Russelites, eventually to be named Jehovah's Witnesses.
What do the wives do in such controlled circumstances? The reader might well reflect that nothing ever really changes for them - yet will be impressed and uplifted by their courage and stamina.