Libby and her stuffy husband Roger endure the winter and spring on sabbatical in the Tennessee mountains. There Libby meets hillbilly Will Cade and falls in love with him. He is henpecked by his harridan wife Ann and Libby is suffocated by her boring, verbose and pompous spouse. The two engage in a passionate affair. Then the couple's daughter Ellen shows up announcing she has been accepted to Harvard Law School and insists Libby return to New York to care for her son while she attends. Soon after, Will's miscreant son tries to rape Libby on a remote country road and is killed by his father.