 More than two years after the Trantridge debacle, Tess, now twenty, has found employment outside the village, where her past is not known.She works for Mr. and Mrs. Crick as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy.There, she befriends three of her fellow milkmaids, Izz, Retty, and Marian, and meets again Angel Clare, now an apprentice farmer who has come to Talbothays to learn dairy management.