Anne Lister’s revelation that her new wife Ann Walker is moving in with her in Shibden shocks Ann’s relatives and leaves Anne's former lover Mariana devastated.

In France, Ann Walker is shocked by details about Anne Lister’s complicated relationship with Mariana Lawton. Back in Halifax, Ann’s family are hatching a plot to marry her off.

Anne Lister throws herself into public life in Halifax but privately struggles to resist Mariana Lawton’s magnetic pull.

Anne Lister is drawn back into her complicated past with Mariana during a trip to Lawton Hall. Back at Shibden with her in-laws, Ann Walker receives a visitor.

Halifax is smashed to pieces by a mob hungry for political change. It’s a dangerous time to be a Tory – and a lesbian – but Anne Lister refuses to keep a low profile.

In the face of a campaign to destroy their relationship, serious cracks are appearing in Anne Lister and Ann Walker’s marriage.

Anne's plans for her Halifax empire grow grander by the day, and she ignores Parker's warnings against the spiralling financial risk. She and Ann press on with the proposal for a division of the Walker land, meeting Captain Sutherland's every obstruction head-on. But Ann's litigious determination to secure her share of the family estate sends shockwaves through her tribe of relations.

Anne refuses to introduce Ann to her society friends during a trip to London, and simmering resentments on both sides of the relationship boil over. Back in Halifax, Anne is privately dismayed to realise she cannot count on the support of her family and receives terrible news about a friend. The ongoing mission to divide the Walker estate puts the couple under even more strain when Captain Sutherland arrives from Scotland determined to destroy Anne's reputation.