Now Mary has been accepted into the charitable ladies' circle, she's excited to join them on an outing to one of their philanthropical endeavours – which Ma decides to gate-crash! However Mary and Ma are dismayed to come face to face with a place that holds painful memories from their past. Old wounds are reopened and although Ma tries to gloss over it, Mary thinks it's time for Ma to acknowledge the truth.
Meanwhile, Sam is set on the backfoot after the conservative Mr Hugill from the board comes to visit.
Liza seeks to make amends with Adella after getting her into trouble at the tea party, and asks for Adella's help in becoming a proper lady. Adella happily accepts the challenge, as she's keen for a distraction from her bore of a suitor, Lord Hugo Bathurst. Adella is also having fun toying with a lovestruck Joe Hardacre.
Emma is horrified with Adella's new found interest in the Hardacres and is determined to secure the match with Lord Hugo as soon as possible. She plans to host a sophisticated soirée so they can invite Lord Hugo and keep the Hardacres as far away from the evening as possible. But Adella spots an opportunity for some devilment and invites them anyway.
The Hardacres head to the soirée. Despite opting for a night at the pub with Victor, Ma also finds it difficult to hide from her past mistakes. Meanwhile, back at Hardacre Hall, Dryden recruits Maggie to hide away the Hall's treasured possessions for safekeeping.
At the soirée Liza tries out her new lady skills and Emma desperately tries to push Adella towards Hugo and away from Joe, but to no avail. Disaster strikes when Lord Hugo insults Liza and Joe springs to her defence and challenges him to a fight…
