The Greater Power

January in a British Columbia logging camp finds Derrick Nasmyth struggling with work that has worn him down. Still under thirty, he needs his companions' help to move a heavy log and begins thinking about leaving for Victoria. He once enjoyed a comfortable life in London, but a family financial disaster brought him to Canada. Years of physical labour have followed, placing his education and former social position beside the hard demands of the forest.

Money and manners weigh on his prospects in a different way. Mrs Acton questions his interest in Violet Hamilton, a wealthy young woman she regards as her ward. Nasmyth has only a few hundred dollars and an uncertain project, though an uncle may invest. Conversations about England, family connections and income accompany a yacht trip and a row in a dinghy. The novel brings logging life and polite society into the same story, with Nasmyth trying to establish a place for himself in the West.