The Prairie Wife

Summary

During an ill‑fated European excursion, the aristocratic debutante Chaddie Green discovers that her family’s fortune has evaporated, leaving her to confront the stark reality of poverty. Returning to the United States, she encounters Duncan MacKail, a man of equally modest means whose only asset is a sprawling parcel of grain‑rich prairie land. Their impulsive marriage unites two souls seeking stability amid desolation. Duncan employs Ollie, a taciturn Swedish caretaker, whose imposing demeanor unsettles Chaddi, yet his presence proves indispensable for the fledgling homestead. When Duncan departs on a business errand, Chaddie rides fifteen miles to aid Percy Woodhouse, an ailing English expatriate. A runaway horse forces her to spend a night beneath a weather‑worn wagon, an ordeal that ignites Duncan’s jealousy upon his return. Determined to protect Percy and to temper Ollie’s volatile temperament, Chaddie invites the convalescent guest into her household. Duncan, consumed by suspicion, leaves in a fit of anger, only to return bearing Olga, a servant intended as a conciliatory gesture. The fragile equilibrium shatters as Olga and Percy fall into a passionate liaison, while Ollie, tormented by his own murderous impulses, hangs himself, leaving a confession that reverberates through the prairie silence. In the aftermath, Chaddie and Duncan reconcile, welcome a child, and ultimately discover a hard‑won contentment within the vast, windswept plains that now cradle their family.