To Reason Why

is a complete fictitious story. It is based in Yorkshire and Australia. Archibald and Margaret Benson-Smythe inherited an estate of over a thousand acres which had been in the family for over four hundred years. This they intended that their three sons, Benjamin, James, and Charles, should carry on after their deaths.

Benjamin, called Ben, inherited as the eldest son but was a bully and a hypocrite and had no intention of having his two brothers work with him. Consequently, they made their own way in life. James emigrated to Australia with his new wife. Charles started a wool mill, and as the two of them became more and more successful, Ben became more and more jealous of them.

He schemed up a plan to have James murdered. But does his scheme backfire? Ben's long-suffering wife Jane, of twelve years, and who produced six children, turns the tables on him.