Young country girl Laura Timmins leaves her friends and family to start her first job in Candleford. Postmistress Dorcas Lane gives Laura a warm welcome but other residents of Candleford aren't so generous.

Mrs Macey finds out that her husband has escaped from prison, and Freddy has been meeting a stranger.

Dorcas helps a workhouse girl find work, sparking village gossip and rivalry between the Amoses. The residents of Lark Rise celebrate 200 years of Midwinter family rule, with Lady Adelaide reluctant until Dorcas is asked to step in.

A strange old man arrives in Candleford looking for his estranged daughters, Ruby and Pearl Pratt. Horrified to see him out in public, playing scams on the local residents, the girls must decide whether they can forgive him for deserting them.

Dorcas is thrown by the surprise arrival of a new Post Office inspector, Mr Rushton, who starts to unearth anomalies in the way Dorcas runs the Post Office. Robert, meanwhile, has been carving a decorative angel on the schoolhouse for which he is not getting paid.

Robert takes pity on a homeless family and brings them to stay at his house for the night, but in the morning the family have departed, leaving their little daughter Polly behind. Lady Adelaide falls in love with Polly and wants to adopt her, but Sir Tim is extremely wary of this, thinking it's completely inappropriate. Tim takes Polly to the Post Office where everyone struggles to think of a solution.