The hobbits of the Fellowship, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, returning home to the Shire, come to its border, the Brandywine Bridge, late at night. They are surprised to find it barred, but are taken in, after some convincing, by the Shiriffs, a kind of hobbit police, who are guarding the bridge. They are shocked at the state of the Shire, with endless rules, ugly new buildings, and wanton destruction of trees and old buildings. One of these was Sandyman's mill, replaced by a big, noisy one full of machinery that fouls the water and pollutes the air; Ted Sandyman is the only hobbit who likes it, and he works for the Men who built it, where his father was his own boss. Sam recognises one of the Shiriffs and tells him he should be ashamed of himself for joining in with "such nonsense". All the cheerful inns are closed, so the Fellowship hobbits stay in the depressing, badly-built new Shiriff-house.