This is the story of a family, the only inhabitants, locked in mutual dependence but poisoned by hostility and oppression, the mother mocked and demeaned by her husband. She bears him two sons, the younger, John Angus, being born with a twisted foot. The father, regarding the disability as a reflection on himself, tries to blame her ‘bad blood’ and moulds the older child, Ivan, in his own image. She protects and favours John Angus.
   After a tragic accident the father loses his leg. He can’t bear the prospect of being a cripple and goes to the city, leaving his wife with the two boys, the older, Ivan, infected with all the unpleasant nature of his father. A third boy, however, appears on the scene – a ‘boarded-out’ boy whom she rescues from a cruel neighbour. Ivan, jealous of her affection for the boy, conspires and succeeds in having him removed.
    Some years later, the mother becomes ill. The ‘boarded-out’ boy, having grown into a powerful young man and a professional shearer, returns briefly to help. John Angus has an ally, whose influence and warnings Ivan can’t ignore. Ivan’s drinking, though, has become an addiction. When his mother dies, John Angus is left to cope with his brother. Ivan, in a bout of drinking, destroys a cairn which John Angus has built as a memorial to his mother. In a fit of rage John Angus kills him. Cain kills Abel. John Angus lives on, his crime undetected, till a new laird comes to the island. This intrusion is too much for John Angus.