North and South - Episode Guide

1842, Orry Main leaves Mont Royal, the cotton plantation near Charleston (South Carolina) he's heir to, on his way to West Point for two years of officer's training. On the way he stops a runaway carriage, meets and falls in love with Madeline Fabray, who agrees to write to him. However she is moving from Atlanta with her father, Nicholas Fabray, who needs her to wed his rude neighbor, rich Resolute plantation owner Justin LaMotte. Fighting off scum trying to extort exorbitant porters wages, Orry meets fellow cadet George Hazard, son of a Pennsylvania machines manufacturer. The hazing lives up to its reputation, not in the least due to drill master Elkanah Bent. Georgian drillmaster Bent takes particular pleasure in humbling Ohio cadet Ned Fiske at sword-practice but is humiliatingly defeated by Carolinian Orry. Madeline no longer receives Orry's letters, so she become susceptible to Justin's generous courting. George and Orry decide to share their allowances with Fisk so he must not resign to run his sick dad's farm. Bent is so hell-bent on revenge that even saving his life during a demerit points-chase is cruelly 'rewarded'. Eighteen months later George introduces Orry to his Pennsylvania family, which takes to him, and their iron factory, run by dad William Hazard and eldest son Stanley. George's sister Virgilia is instantly hostile to the slave-holder, yet also attracted. Orry stops overseer Salem Jones happily whipping slave Priam, but father Tillet refuses either to sack the sadist or consider mechanizing, without which the plantation is doing badly.

To distract Orry, whose brooding about Madeline wrecks his West Point performance, George drags him to Alice Peet for laundry and 'intimate' services. After Bent arranges for Fisk to be thrown off during a hell ride on his fiery mount Satan, Bent bluffs his way out of a court-martial but the mates arrange for its president, Lieutenant Casimir De Jong, to find his 'love rival' in Alice's bed and bully him out of West Point after a promise of eternal revenge. Two years later the gang graduates. At a welcome party hosted by pa Tillet Maine, Justin scolds Madelin for openly disagreeing with separatism and arranges slave Priam to offend publicly so overseer Salem Jones is allowed to punish his insolence with branding. Orry starts a secret affair with reluctant Madeline. Bent plays his secret trump card, Ohio's US Senator Charles Edwards, being Elkanah's natural father, to get commissioned as infantry captain in president Polk's war to wrest Texas from Mexico, and sends lieutenants Orry and George on a virtual suicide reconnaissance at Churubusco. Shell-hit Orry is crippled for life, but Constance, the daughter of Colonel Patrick Flynn MD, who saved Orry from worse, becomes George's true love. After pa William Hazard's death, George resigns and joins the firm under Stanley's directorship. Madelin helps Priam run away, Justin flogs all slaves as possible accomplices. Even Orry leaves his recluse room to join the manhunt and meets Madeline again.

1848, Orry plucks run-away slave Priam from the train Madelin suggested to flee on, George uses their friendship to let him escape. Three weeks later, Orry is best man when George weds Constance in Lehigh Station, Pennsylvania. His mother decides to give George equal share in Hazard Iron as his elder brother, Stanley, to his wife's fury. Virgilia tricks Orry into attending one of her blatant abolitionist meetings with the family, where she attracts Congressman Sam Greene's romantic attentions. Scolded by Justin for failing to give him an heir, Madeline refuses to divorce him for Orry. After an explosion due to Stanley's stinging, George is given the power of purse. After Orry's father Tillet Main dies, he fires Salem Jones. Orry permits lawyer-politician James Huntoon to court his equally ambitious sister Ashton. He scolds orphaned cousin Charles for getting dragged into a fistfight with Salem Jones's gang, but seconds and trains him for a duel with Whitney Smith whose fiancée cheated with him, winning respect and Orry's support to prepare for West Point. During the Mains' summer visit at the Hazard estate, Charles befriends fellow future cadet Billy, who is seduced by Ashton. George and Orry plan a joint-venture - a slave-free cotton mill in South Carolina, despite the political animosity. Madeline catches Justin with a slave, gets a whiplash and is afterwards comforted by Orry.

In 1854, the Hazards pay a visit to Mont Royal. Billy loses his interest in Ashton when he sees her in the cotton barn with another man and soon turns his interest to the demure Brett. Virgilia is on her best behavior, as she has promised, until she meets James Hontoon's coachman Grady and forms an instant attraction to him. After spending the night together, she helps him run away to the North which leads to a confrontation with Huntoon. Orry feels he has little choice but to ask the Hazards to leave. Virgilia and Grady are soon living together as husband and wife but that doesn't sit well with even some of the most ardent supporters of abolition. In 1856, Billy and Charles graduate from West Point with Billy assigned to the Engineering Corps in Washington and Charles assigned to the 3rd Cavalry under the command of Robert E. Lee. Billy proposes to Brett but Orry will not allow him to court her given the current situation. Ashton continues to lie her way through society and turns to Madeline when she gets into trouble. Meanwhile, Madeline's father is on his death bed and shocks her by revealing a hidden family secret.

Having locked Madeline in her room and nearly starving her to death, Justin convinces the doctor that her condition is self-inflicted. The doctor prescribes his own tonic and a daily dose of laudanum which, despite its addictive qualities, will serve to calm her nerves. Madeline is soon a very different woman: submissive and with few words to say, she has little memory of her love affair with Orry and their decision to run off together. Orry and Brett travel to Philadelphia where he wants to give his good friend George Hazard his share of the profits from their cotton mill. Unfortunately, Virgilia is also visiting leading to a confrontation with Orry over slavery. Orry and Brett leave and it will be some time before before he and George see one another. On the train trip home, they are stopped by a group led by abolitionist John Brown. Ashton, now married to James Hontoon, spends a good deal of her time in bed with lovers while her political activist husband is away promoting secession. That movement is gaining ground and war is seen as inevitable should Abraham Lincoln win the forthcoming elections.

With Abe Lincoln's election as President, secessionist feelings are running high. George Hazard pays a surprise visit to Orry at Mont Royal to apologize for what his fanatical sister said on his last visit. They resolve their differences and Orry finally gives his permission for Brett to marry Billy Hazard. Ashton is still out for revenge against Billy and arranges for him to be attacked on the street by thugs, though it turns out they're not very successful. She then turns to Forbes Lamotte to get the deed done. Billy and Brett's wedding seems to be just the right day to get the job done. Madeline overhears the plot and rushes to tell Orry who tells her she will stay at Mont Royal and never return to Justin. Elkanah Bent plots to run any blockade the North may try to impose on Southern ports. Orry travels to Pennsylvania to repay George his investment in the cotton mill and realizes the full extent of the hatred that now exists. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attack Fort Sumter and war is declared. George and Orry say farewell, not knowing what the future may hold for their families or their friendship.

The ebb and flow of war has begun with victories and defeats on both sides. Brett and Semiramis make it safely back to Mont Royal, after a dangerous encounter with Northern troops. When Orry hears of what happened at Mont Royal, he rescues Madeline and they are soon married. Virgilia meets Dorothy Dix who accepts her as a nurse on the basis of Congressman Sam Greene's recommendation. Orry needs to stop the blockade runners and is almost captured by a Northern patrol. By the purest luck, he meets George on the trail. Elkanah Bent has ambitions of megalomaniacal proportions and has every intention of gaining power in the South. He fully expects Ashton to be at his side. A woman scorned puts him out of business for a while. Charles is wounded and makes his way to Augusta Barclay's farm where he recuperates. At Lehigh Station, Stanley Hazard, egged on by his ever ambitious wife and against his better judgment, gets involved in shady deals.

Hearing about her mother's injury, Brett and one of the Main household servants, Semiramis, make the dangerous trip from Washington, D.C. to the Main plantation in South Carolina. Along the way, Semiramis is captured by Union soldiers, but rescued by Brett. Orry leaves Richmond and returns to South Carolina as well; he finds Madeline at Justin's plantation and kills Justin in a fight. Orry and Madeline finally get married. Orry discovers Bent's illegal smuggling enterprise and stops it by capturing Bent's blockade runners, arresting his men, and destroying most of his merchandise. Bent and Ashton vow revenge. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, George's older brother Stanley takes over the family's steel factories. His greedy wife Isabel talks him into profiteering from the war by using cheap, low-grade iron to make cannons for the U.S. Army; the cannons often explode and kill Northern soldiers. They forge George's name on the documents, in case the cannons are traced back to Hazard Iron.

By September 1862, the South appears to be on the verge of victory. President Lincoln wants to emancipate all slaves but recognizes he needs a victory on the battlefield before he can do so. Disatisfied with his current commander, he sends George Hazard to sound out Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on whether he would take on overall command of the Northern forces. After Salem Jones kills a runaway slave from Mont Royal, the family decides to offer safe passage to any of their slaves who wish to leave. Soon after, Ashton arrives and is shocked to find Brett and Madeline working in the fields. She also reveals to Madeline that she knows her great secret which she will make public unless she leaves. Virgilia is now working in a Union field hospital and is admonished by the chief nurse, Mrs. Neal, to treat all soldiers the same. Charles and Billy come face to face on the battlefield.

Ulysses S. Grant is made commander of the Armies of the Potomac and is having an immediate effect, but at a very high cost in terms of casualties. George Hazard, now a Brigadier General, has received his long sought after field assignment but is taken prisoner and transported to Libby Prison in Richmond. There he meets the prison warden, Capt. Thomas Turner who will go to any length to be obeyed. Having been admonished by Mrs. Neal, her superior at the field hospital, to treat all soldiers will equal care regardless of what side they are fighting on Virgilia finds herself in trouble after one of them dies and she is charged with murder. She again turns to her protector, Congressman Sam Greene, for help and is now ready to pay the price he demands of her. Now living under a false name, Madeline makes the acquaintance of a handsome rogue. Orry meanwhile has hired a Pinkerton's detective to try and track her down. With States-rights advocates continuing their battle with President Davis over his ever-growing authority, Elkanah Bent sees himself as the future President of the Confederacy and recruits James Hontoon to be his Vice President.

Charles and Orry set out to rescue George Hazard, who is being held at Libby Prison in Richmond. They make sure he gets back to Union Lines and he makes it home for Christmas. As he recovers however, he learns that a warrant has been issued for his arrest for selling faulty cannons to the Army. He goes after Morgan the black marketeer and his brother Stanley does the right thing. At Mont Royal, Brett has an unfortunate encounter with Salem Jones. Madeline has been continuing her good works in Charleston helping those living in the shanty town and gets Rafe Baudeen's help when a group of young boys are take to dig rifle pits for the army. Elkanah Bent continues to dream of taking control of the Confederacy and gets Ashton to sleep with a contributor. Bent has a large stash of ammo and powder but Orry is soon onto him. An exhausted Charles visits Augusta Barclay.

The war has turned against the South. Orry and Charles save George from Libby Prison, kill Turner in a fight, and allow George to return to the North. Madeline helps starving people in Charleston. Returning home, George learns of his brother and sister-in-law's illegal business schemes to use cheap iron to build cannon, and forces Stanley and Isabel to admit guilt. Bent tries to kill Madeline in Charleston, but she is rescued by her gambler friend Rafe, who saves Madeline but is fatally shot by Bent. Bent enlists James Huntoon for help in his plot to overthrow the Confederate government. Although he is still oblivious to Bent's and Ashton's affair, Huntoon acts as a double agent gathering intelligence on the planned coup d'état and reporting the activities to Jefferson Davis. The Confederate President orders Orry to squash the planned revolution. In a final fight, Orry and Huntoon attack Bent's hideout near Richmond. Bent is (apparently) killed when the ammunition he was hiding in a barn explodes. Ashton confesses her affair to James, conspiring to have Billy killed, her past abortion, and tells Orry that she helped Bent drive Madeline away. Orry disowns Ashton and tells Huntoon that he never wants to see his sister again. Ashton begs Huntoon's forgiveness, but he tells her that it is too late.

With the war having come to an end, Orry and Madeline are living in Richmond until Mont Royal can be rebuilt. Elkanah Bent and Ashton Hontoon pay them a visit. She thinks it's to get money out of Orry but Bent has revenge in mind and Orry is killed. Ashton pushes Bent into the river and when he awakens, he can't remember who he is. Madeline relocates to South Carolina intent on rebuilding their former home. With the help of Prudence, she also wants to build a school. George Hazard was unable to attend Orry's funeral but visits Madeline with a business proposition. After his visit, Madeline gets a night time visit by the Ku Klux Klan. Just as he arrives home in Lehigh Station, Pennsylvania George finds that Bent has already been.

With Madeline's school burned to the ground by the Klan, they decide to rebuild. Cooper Main has discovered phosphates on Mont Royal land and with Isobel Hazard as an investor, begins a mining operation. The conditions of work are poor however and the former slaves who work there are forced into another kind of slavery when they are forced to use the company store to buy their supplies and find themselves in perpetual debt. In Pennsylvania, George Hazard is bereft over the loss of Constance and has become obsessed with finding Elkanah Bent and exacting his revenge. He has Pinkerton's men tracking him, but they always seem to be one step behind. It takes a visit from Madeline to save him from himself. Ashton has given up prostitution and is now focusing on her new husband's piano business. She is obsessed with raising enough money to buy Mont Royal. Charlie Main meanwhile refuses to settle down with Willa and continues to roam the West, now as an army scout searching for Scar who killed his friends.

When George Hazard learns that it's his sister-in-law who owns the majority shares in the mining operation at Mont Royal, he turns to his brother Stanley who does the right thing. George returns to Mont Royal with Madeline and as the new owner of the mine, makes things right. His first act is to shut the company store. He and Madeline soon fall in love. When he learns that the mad Elkanah Bent has kidnapped Charlie's young son he sets off to find Charlie. Together, they track Bent down for a final confrontation. Back in South Carolina, George and Madeline prepare for an attack from the Klan. Ashton returns to find what remains of her beloved Mont Royal.