crippled. Meanwhile, George meets Constance Flynn, the Irish Catholic daughter of an Army surgeon, and falls in love. They plan to marry. Orry drowns his sorrows in alcoholism. With the Mexican War over, George quits the army, finds Bent, and beats him, threatening to kill him if he ever tries to harm him or Orry again. Traumatized by his injuries, Orry temporarily becomes a recluse. When Madeline helps Priam, one of Orry's slaves, escape, one of the other slaves gets whipped for helping Priam. Episode 3 (spring 1848 – summer 1854) George marries Constance and Orry is his best man. Orry and Madeline become secret lovers. A terrible fire erupts at Hazard Iron and kills many of the workers due to George's older brother, Stanley, making a greedy decision. All authority over Hazard Iron is handed to George, greatly displeasing Stanley and his wife, Isabel. Orry's father dies five years later, leaving Orry to inherit the family plantation. His first act is to fire the brutal Salem Jones as overseer. Jones vows revenge. Orry's cousin Charles, who does not have good relations with the Main family, is challenged to a pistol duel in a dispute over an engaged woman. Orry, as Charles' second, begrudgingly helps Charles to survive the duel and they become close. The Mains visit the Hazards in Pennsylvania. Billy and Charles plan to attend West Point together, just as Orry and George did. Orry's sister Ashton purposely courts George's younger brother Billy, whom Brett has come to fancy. Orry and George begin a partnership cotton mill at Orry's plantation in South Carolina; they do so on George's condition that Orry not use slave labor in the mill. Virgilia is furious that her family has allowed slave owners into their house and tries to humiliate them, angering the rest of her family. Episode 4 (summer 1854 – autumn 1856) – The Hazards visit the Mains in South Carolina. Billy discovers how selfish and seductive Ashton can be and falls in love with Ashton's younger and kinder sister, Brett, much to Ashton's jealousy. George's sister Virgilia enters a passionate relationship with Grady, the proud and aggressive coachman of James Huntoon, an ambitious but easily manipulated South Carolina politician, who is also a strong suitor of Ashton, and helps Grady escape from slavery. Ashton, however, becomes aware of Virgilia's involvement and informs James, as well as announcing it in the