Sir Thomas Underwood, a wealthy barrister and former politician, divides his life between his chambers and Popham Villa, where his daughters Patience and Clarissa live with their cousin Mary Bonner, while Ralph Newton, the acknowledged heir to Newton Priory, struggles under heavy debts and attracts Clarissa even as he considers marriage to Polly Neefit, the wealthy breeches-maker’s daughter, as a possible escape from financial ruin and thereby comes into conflict with her devoted admirer Ontario Moggs, and at Newton Priory the present Squire longs to secure the estate for his own illegitimate son, also named Ralph, by purchasing the heir’s future rights, creating an inheritance struggle that grows increasingly urgent while Clarissa waits in uncertainty for the spendthrift Ralph to declare what he truly intends and Gregory Newton suffers from an unreturned love of his own.
