Alice Vavasor is engaged to the honourable and dependable John Grey, yet she remains uneasy about the quiet married life he offers and longs to feel that she is choosing her own future, while a journey through Europe with her cousin Kate brings her once more into close contact with her former fiancé, the reckless and ambitious George Vavasor. Kate encourages a reconciliation between Alice and George, and amid the romance of Switzerland Alice begins questioning her engagement even though she continues to recognize John’s goodness and loyalty. Meanwhile the wealthy widow Mrs Greenow enjoys the competing attentions of Cheesacre and Captain Bellfield while carefully controlling both her fortune and her prospects of remarriage, and George develops increasingly serious political ambitions that require money and influence. By the time Alice returns home, her uncertainty between John and George has deepened, making love inseparable from questions of independence, family expectation, money, and the kind of life she wishes to lead.
