In this adaptation of Flora Thompson's memoir of her childhood, Laura Timmins leaves the Oxfordshire hamlet of Lark Rise for a job in the market town of Candleford, where her mother's cousin, effervescent Dorcas Lane, is postmistress. Farm workers, craftsmen and gentry make up the community of families, rivals, friends and neighbors. Throughout the series, residents of both places interact at the best and the worst of times, including a measles epidemic that threatens the harvest and the arrival of new Post Office Inspector Mr. Rushton.