Far from the Madding Crowd it tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everyone whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish philosophy of life was the past was yesterday never the day after. And lastly of the introverted and reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr. Boldwood whose love fills him with a fearful sense of exposure when he first sets eyes on Bathsheba. The background of this tale is the wessex countryside in all its moods.