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Captain Brown believes that modernisation is inevitable if the town is to survive and knows that the young people, like Jem, will have to move to find work. However, Matty is delighted to see the return to Cranford, after an absence of two years, of her dear friend, Mr Buxton, with his son, William, and his niece, Erminia. The recent death of Mrs Buxton has left both husband and son grief-stricken and at odds with each other. Mr Buxton has hopes of a parliamentary career and an advantageous marriage for his son.
But William has ideas of his own. Matty is concerned about another young person. Peggy Bell lives in an isolated cottage outside the town with her mother and domineering, ambitious brother, Edward. Matty fears Peggy has no friends and is in danger of becoming too inward-looking and as isolated as their cottage. She decides to intervene and engineers an invitation that will bring the four young people together. But, as tragedy strikes, she comes to believe that, unwittingly, she has opened Pandora's box and fears that Cranford will never recover.
