Ruby's infatuation with a group of upper-class modern thinkers leads her into conflict with her family. A sudden convert to vegetarianism, she releases the butcher's pigs in a spirit of protest. However, the plan backfires and she is forced to stand before the magistrate's court. Her friends reveal they had other plans for Ruby and that their politics are not quite as innocent as they had seemed. When May becomes dangerously ill, Ruby is forced to make the choice between family and friends. Butcher Joseph, however, proves an unlikely ally.