Young clergyman Mark Robarts enjoys the comfortable living of Framley through his friendship with Lord Lufton and the patronage of Lady Lufton, but his desire to move among more fashionable and politically influential people draws him toward Nathaniel Sowerby and the Chaldicotes circle until he rashly agrees to endorse one of Sowerby’s bills and becomes involved in financial obligations far beyond his means, while Mark’s sister Lucy comes to Framley and gradually falls in love with Lord Lufton, whose mother has imagined the beautiful and socially distinguished Griselda Grantly as a more suitable wife for her son and therefore looks unfavorably on his growing attachment to Lucy, and as Mark begins to recognize the danger of his financial decision the impoverished but fiercely independent clergyman Josiah Crawley and his family are introduced, bringing questions of money, class, conscience, friendship, and social ambition increasingly into conflict.
