The Devereaux family is a large family with a history of taking many wives or husbands depending on the new head. The current head is very much a selfish pompous tiger who holds grudges against those who humiliated him.
The current wives each have their own reasons to have entered this family, one of arrangement, one of accident, and one of strange attachment. Their lives are not as peaceful as ones looking in would think.
The current rebel of their children's all ran away and now live the lives without much worry or hardship from the large family or their father or so they think.