After years in Europe, Eve Effingham and her family return to America, where their encounters with New York society reveal sharp differences between their memories of home and the social habits they now observe, while Eve renews her close relationship with her cousin Grace. Moving on to their country home at Templeton, the Effinghams confront figures such as Aristabulus Bragg and Steadfast Dodge, whose ambition, gossip, and appeals to popular opinion embody many of the social tendencies the novel satirizes. Eve's attachment to Paul Powis gradually deepens, while Sir George Templemore begins to transfer his affections from Eve to Grace. Meanwhile, a serious dispute develops over the family's privately owned Point, which local residents claim as a public right because they have long been allowed to use it, bringing private property and individual rights into direct conflict with popular sentiment.
