A master cylinder (12) and pedal feel emulator (10) useful in a brake-by-wire system. A bore (18) of the master cylinder contains three pistons (22, 34, and 28), in tandem, that divide the bore into various zones (26, 24, 32, 30). The emulator contains a piston (74) that divides a bore (72) into two zones (76, 78), and a spring (80) disposed in one of those zones. The zones of the emulator are hydraulically communicated in certain ways with zones of the master cylinder to enable the emulator to be effective during brake-by-wire controlled braking to displace the emulator piston to compress the emulator spring, thereby emulating pedal feel that occurs during hydraulic braking.