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Descendants of the d'Urbervilles
John Durbeyfield meets an old parson who informs him of his ancestral connection with the d'Urbevilles. His daughter, Tess, is also informed of this after she arrived home from the May Day festival. As Tess and her brother go searching for their parents at the inn, they converse about astrology but fall asleep shortly after. While asleep, their carriage collides with a local mart, which ended up killing their horse. -
Trantridge
Due to her guilt of killing the horse, Tess reluctantly agrees to her parents' request of meeting Mrs. d'Urberville. Upon her arrival, Tess is surprised to find a new mansion rather than the old crumbling one she had imagined. She meets Alec, Mrs. d'Urberville's son, who takes a particular liking to Tess. Due to his influence, Tess receives a letter from Mrs. d'Urberville offering her a job of tending the fowls. -
Alec d'Urberville
On the day Tess is scheduled to leave, her mother grooms her into her best attire. As Alec arrives to pick her up, her mother suddenly becomes nervous and worries for Tess's safety. On their way, Alec drove very recklessly despite Tess's continuous plea of telling him to stop. He agrees to do so on the condition that Tess allows him to kiss her. She unwillingly agrees, but wipes it off, enraging Alec in the process. They argue and Tess continues the journey on foot. -
Mrs. d'Urberville
Tess meets Mrs. d'Urberville and discovers that she is blind. It later becomes clear that Mrs. d'Urberville is not the least appreciative nor satisfied with Tess's work. -
The "Incident"
At a local fair, Tess meets Alec who offers to bring her home. She rejects his offer at first but eventually agrees after seeing the drunken state of her friends. On their way, Alec "accidentally" wanders off deep into the woods, and tries to convince Tess to take him as a lover. Tess rejects him and points out that they are lost. Alec goes off to find a landmark and finds Tess asleep on dead leaves upon his return. He uses her unconsciousness as an opportunity to rape her. -
Maiden No More
After battling with mixed feelings, Tess finally acknowledges that she does not love Alec and flees from the d'Urbeville mansion. When she returns home, her mother expresses frustration regarding her failure to marry Alec even after the "incident" has occurred. Tess reminds her that it was her doing that led to the "incident", as she failed to warn her about the dangers of men. -
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Pregnancy & Depression
Due to her situation, Tess falls into a depression that restrained her social life with her friends. She tries to attend church but decides not to because of what others say about her. -
Sorrow
Tess delivered her baby that she conceived with Alec, but it soon fell ill. Tess worries that the baby will not receive proper christening, so she decides to christen him herself, and name him Sorrow. The baby dies the next morning. -
Beginning of a New Life
Tess realizes that she can never be happy in Marlott and begins a new life as a milkmaid in another time. Unfortunately for her, the dairy lies near the estate of the d'Urbervilles, so she was bound to see her abuser soon. -
Angel Clare
Tess seems to be in a good mood as she sets out to Talbothay's Dairy. Everyone there seems to treat her kindly as well. While working, Tess recognizes one of the men as Angel Clare, the guy she saw at the May Day festival. Like before, Angel once again finds himself drawn to Tess's beauty and modesty. -
Intimacy
Tess discovers that Angel has a certain bias towards her with their work. She confronts him about this one late afternoon, and they end up having an intimate discussion about their lives. Angel notices that Tess seems to have quite a pessimistic view of life, which was surprising for him since he saw Tess as pure and modest. -
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Newfound Happiness
During this timespan, Tess and Angel grow closer to each other. They often have very intimate and arguably flirtatious conversations among themselves, and Tess describes it as being the happiest phase of her life. -
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Trouble at the Diary
There seem to be some obstacles at the dairy for the workers. Customers are starting to demand more products, and there have been more complaints about the condition of their dairy. During this time, Angel's love for Tess seemed to noticeably grow, but Tess does not want to marry because she is still ashamed of her past. -
Angel's Confession
Angel feels overwhelmed by his love for Tess and confesses his feelings for her. Tess falters for a moment but pulls away. They return to their work, both visibly flustered with the intimacy.