The "north and south" of the title are the Satanic mills of the industrial north and the leisured life of London society and rural Hampshire. When her father leaves the Church, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice and a turbulent relationship with mill-owner John Thornton. "North and South" depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together.