On a drunken impulse, Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter at a country fair, an outrageous act for which he suffers an agonizing remorse. Years later, when he has become a respected and prosperous man, his wife and daughter seek him out in Casterbridge. He attempts to right the long-ago wrong and sets in motion a series of events that spell his destruction.

Shakespeare's play about the weak and despicable King John, who tries to fend off the royal claims of Arthur, Duke of Brittany, who is supported by the King of France. In spite of the support of Faulconbridge, John alienates the English nobility and runs afoul of the Pope. In the end he is poisoned and his son Henry III becomes King.