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'Sir John' Durbeyfield meets the Parson who informs him of his ancestors being Knights and of his relation to the D'Ubervilles. The same day, he goes down to the village and proclaims his ancestry and riches that he must claim, making people think he is insane.
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After Mr. Durbeyfield leaves, Tess returns to the May-Day dance she was already attending. Three brothers traveling through town stop for a moment to watch. The two elders continue to travel after a moment's rest, but the first stays to dance with a girl. After one dance, he leaves but catches the eye of Tess Durbeyfield. Immediately, he regrets not dancing with her instead of the one he did. He has to hurry to catch up to his brothers who had left him in the dust.
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Tess returns home after the May-Day dance. Her mother is drowning in housework, and after a quick conversation with Tess, leaves her to the house, as she goes to fetch her husband at the tavern. Instead of fetching him, she sits with him and has a few drinks. They discuss the idea of Tess going to the D'Ubervilles' and claiming kin so that they might have some of the wealth. Tess had sent Abraham to retrieve their parents, but when they didn't return, she went and fetched them herself.
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Because her father was not well in the morning, Tess got up early with Abraham, and together they prepared the horse and went to deliver the beehives before the sun was even up. Abraham mentions the conversation he heard his parents have the night before, and Tess is surprised because this was the first she'd heard of it. Soon after discussing it, Abraham falls off to sleep, Tess not too long after. They wake up when the horse cries, because it hurt itself on a sharp stick and was bleeding.
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Tess goes to Trantridge to claim kin and meets Alec D'Uberville, who takes a liking to her. He tries to kiss her towards the end of their first meeting but restrains himself. When Tess returns and he gives her a ride to Trantridge, he attempts and does kiss her, in exchange for a safer ride to Trantridge because he is steering the horses. Throughout Tess's stay at Trantridge, she remains angered at him, and he tries to get closer to her, but stays a little farther at her demand.
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Tess goes to town and stays late into the night. On her way walking home, she gets into a bit of trouble, and Alec saves her and starts riding home with her. Because of the fog of the Chase, they get lost. At some point extremely in the morning, Alec takes advantage of Tess, because she was asleep, and rapes her.
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Roughly one month after the incident, Tess leaves Trantridge to return home. Her parents are disappointed she brings no great money or things of value.
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When Tess was raped, she became pregnant. She worked in the fields by her town while her siblings cared for her child. She took care of it on her break and fed it when she could, in front of her coworkers. She had a child and named it Sorrow. Because the child was born out of wedlock, it would not be baptized in the church, so Tess took it upon herself to baptize her own child. Soon after it died. She begged a church leader to give it a church burying, and after some pleading, he obliged.
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May: Tess's mother is contacted by an old friend, inviting Tess to work at a cow farm. Tess leaves and travels far to the cow farm to be a milkmaid. She gets the job and begins immediately. Another worker there, is Angel Clare, one of the three traveling brothers.
June: They both find themselves drawn to each other and love each other, much to the disappointment of the other resident Milkmaids.
July: It becomes more obvious to others that Clare values and loves Tess more than any other milkmaid.