"For spinsters Deborah Jenkyns, the arbiter of correctness in Cranford, and Matty, her demurring sister, the town is a hub of intrigue -- a handsome new doctor Frank Harrison from London has arrived; a retired Army Captain and his daughters have moved in to a house opposite and the preparations for Lady Ludlow's garden party are underway"
Margaret Hale, a southerner, has newly moved to the industrial town of Milton
Sweet Molly Gibson was living life pleasantly when her widowed father decides that, for the good of his daughter, he must remarry. In comes Claire and Molly's life is turned upside down by the usually well meaning but off-the-mark Claire, who insists on things being done the proper way