The once happy marriage of Louis and Emily Trevelyan begins to collapse when Colonel Osborne, an old friend of Emily's father, visits her frequently and Louis, despite having no evidence of misconduct, demands that his wife stop seeing him, turning a minor social concern into a struggle over trust, authority, and pride. Emily regards her husband's suspicions as an insult and refuses to surrender her independence, and after even a temporary reconciliation fails she leaves with her young son and her sister Nora for Nuncombe Putney, while Louis becomes increasingly convinced that his own judgment must be right. Alongside this deteriorating marriage, the relationships of Hugh Stanbury and Nora Rowley, Nora and the wealthy Mr. Glascock, and the eccentric Miss Jemima Stanbury and her niece Dorothy introduce several contrasting stories of courtship, money, family authority, and personal choice.
