In Beneath the Hill, Flora and her siblings, Charles, Louise and Bill, are growing up as the Twentieth Century begins. Flora marries handsome Seth and sets up home. By chance, she discovers that she has the ability to join Ellie Bates, the village midwife, in her work. Flora combines work with bringing up a family and does not escape the stresses which assail her situation. The lives and loves of her family and friends are no less involved. The First World War demoralises and diminishes the village, but life has to be rebuilt, even after the tragedy of irreplaceable loss.