Najmeh Dehghan

Tom and Maggie Toliver are two kids growing up at Dorlcote Mill, which has been in their family for generations. The kids have a lot of extended family living nearby, and their aunts and uncles come by to argue amongst themselves and to scold Tom and Maggie. The kids have a stormy relationship. They spend most of their time getting along really well or else fighting horribly. Maggie in particular is very smart and very emotional and is always getting into trouble. Two major things are in the works for the Toliver’s: school and a lawsuit. Tom and Maggie are both sent to schools and Tom gets a fancy, if useless, education. While at school he meets a deformed boy named Philip Wakem, who is the son of Mr. Toliver’s arch-nemesis. Mr. Toliver dislikes Mr. Wakem, a lawyer, since he is involved in a lawsuit against one of Wakem’s clients. Mr. Toliver loses his lawsuit and things go rapidly downhill for the Toliver family. They go bankrupt and Mr. Toliver’s health begins to fail. Mr. Wakem buys the Toliver family mill, which causes Mr. Toliver to hate the Wakems even more and to curse them in the family Bible.