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Michael Henchard, in a drunken rage, auctions his wife Susan and infant child to a passing seaman. Realising his folly, Henchard makes an oath to avoid alcohol for twenty-one years, prospering as a grain-trader and Mayor of Casterbridge. After eighteen years, newly widowed Susan and her grown daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, seek out an apparently changed Henchard. Partly from guilt, Henchard agrees to remarry Susan, on condition she stay silent on his past. Henchard hires a business manager, Farfrae, who quickly gains popularity, while Henchard’s dark nature resurfaces.

Henchard's daughter, Elizabeth-Jane is now working for his one-time lover Lucetta who, having been tentatively engaged to Henchard, now becomes interested in his rival Farfrae. The jealously furious Henchard plans to ruin Farfrae, but Henchard himself is coming undone.