Thomas Hardy`s richly evocative novel opens with the arrival of Bathsheba in the village of Weatherbury to work the large,dilapidated farm that is her inheritance.The plot turns on her sentimental education,her infatuation for Sergeant Troy, a dazzling young cavarly officer,and her relationship with the sheperd-farmer,Gabriel Oak.Gabriel`s strong presence permates a drama of temptation,treachery and passion in which Bathsheba achieves a painful but necessary self-knowledge.