Anne Elliot, at the age of nineteen, falls in love with Frederick Wentworth, a young man with no connections and only himself to recommend him. Persuaded by her great friend Lady Russell to break off their engagement Anne has ample opportunity to regret her decision.

Some years later, her father Sir Walter Elliot finds himself financially embarrassed and is forced to let the family home, kellynch-hall. The new tenants prove to be Admiral and Mrs Croft, brother-in-law and sister to Wentworth, who has prospered and is now a captain. Although he and Anne are thrown into each other's company he still feels bitterness at her rejection. He becomes entangled with Louisa Musgrove while Anne receives the attentions of William Elliot, her cousin. Once again it seems as though happiness is about to elude them...

Unfairly deprived of their family inheritance by the grasping Mrs John Dashwood and her husband, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood and their mother find themselves in greatly reduced circumstances. Compelled to leave Norland in Sussex for Barton Cottage in Devonshire, the two sisters are soon accepted into their new society. Marianne, whose sweet radiance and open nature charm the roguish John Willoughby, is soon deeply in love. Elinor, whose disposition is more cautious and considered, who carefully conceals her emotions, is suffering the loss of Edward Ferrars whom she has left behind. Despite their very different personalities, both sisters experience great sorrows in their affairs of the heart: Marianne demonstrably wretched and Elinor allowing no one to see her private heartache. It is, however, the qualities common to them both - discernment, constancy and integrity in the face of the fecklessness of others - that allow them entry into a new life of peace and contentment.