In 1791, Tom and Patsy greet their first child, a daughter named Ann. Jefferson has returned to Monticello and is pleased with the way the young couple has maintained it for him.

Tom’s four sisters descend on the house for a visit. They complain of their spiteful young stepmother who has just delivered a son. He’s been given the same name as Tom, essentially erasing the elder son from memory. The girls plead to be allowed to stay. The eldest, Nancy, wants to spend time at Bizarre, a plantation owned by Tom’s cousin Richard. Tom is very worried because that branch of the family has an unsavory reputation, but he agrees to Nancy’s demands.

Patsy gives birth to a boy that she and Tom name after her father. She’s surprised to realize she’s fallen in love with her husband. When Patsy and Tom return to Bizarre to retrieve Nancy, they hear horrifying rumors that Richard has had an affair with her. Nancy supposedly aborted a fetus which Richard then chopped to pieces in a neighbor’s woodpile. Everyone denies the rumor, but Patsy fears it might be true.