High spirited daughter of Miller Tulliver, the owner of the “Mill on the Floss,” Maggie Tulliver goes to visit Tom, her brother, at his boarding school and becomes acquainted with Philip Wakem, Tom’s crippled schoolmate. After Philip’s father, a prosperous lawyer, schemes to take over the mill, Tom forces Maggie to end her liaison with Philip. To satisfy his father’s dying wish, Tom maneuvers to reclaim the mill, which legends say will cause the Floss River to flood if it is lost to the Tullivers, but throws Maggie out of the house when he hears spurious reports about her friendship with Stephen Guest, her cousin’s fiancé. Although she loves Stephen, Maggie decides to give him up and mend her relationship with Tom. On her way to his house, the Floss begins to overflow, threatening to destroy the mill. Bravely Maggie struggles to save her brother, but the river overcomes them, and they die, clasped in each other’s arms.