A young couple who pretend to be brother and sister move from Chicago to the Texas panhandle to escape poverty. There, they work the ranch of a rich and handsome farmer, who has fallen in love with the woman.

10-year-old Luke lives with his parents and grandparents in Arkansas during the Korean War. To pick the cotton in their fields, they must hire "hill people" and Mexicans. Hank is a "hill person" who doesn't take kindly to people looking down on him. Luke witnesses a fight that Hank gets into that causes the death of another person. With better times ahead to look forward to, the town gets excited about a new invention - television.

Sweet but lonesome Olof lives by himself on his family's farm after the death of his mother. Unable to read or write, he is forced to take people on trust. Olof must depend upon his younger friend Erik to help him with the farm work. Then one day, out of the blue, Olof places a personal ad in the paper. The ad attracks Ellen, a beautiful well-heeled city woman. Erik, also taken with Ellen, is determined to destroy her blossoming romance with Olof...

After a family tragedy forces them back together, the Bordelons must navigate the triumphs and struggles of their complicated lives in order to run an ailing sugarcane farm in the Deep South.

Uncertain of her future but unwilling to sacrifice her freedom, Bathsheba rejects the proposal of Gabriel Oak only to become his employer. Still in love, Gabriel can only watch as Bathsheba flirts with her neighbor, Mr. Boldwood unleashing a passionate obsession within the reserved Boldwood. Both men forsake their hearts, however, upon the arrival of the dashing soldier Frank Troy. Despite being in love with another woman himself, Troy sees a challenge...