In the course of 1811, the Bennets of Longbourn meet two sets of estranged relatives: Mr Bennet's unprepossessing heir, and his mother's family. Elizabeth Bennet journeys into Kent to stay with the Palmers at Wingham Hall: her grand-aunt Iphigenia, her cousin Sir James Palmer, who had loved her grandmother ardently in his youth, and his son Galahad. Pleased with her new relations, Elizabeth is less content with the taciturn friend Galahad has invited to join him at Wingham. Fitzwilliam Darcy—rich and proud, disdainful of those beneath him—has escorted his sister Georgiana to Ramsgate, to recuperate from a dangerous illness in the care of her companion, Mrs Younge.

Complications arise with the arrival of Elizabeth's sister Jane and, separately, Charles and Caroline Bingley, the authors of Jane's unhappiness. Tensions and quarrels result in the Bingleys' abrupt departure, swiftly followed by Darcy after a maladroit proposal that Elizabeth spurns with a pride that matches his own.

Unfortunately, Darcy leaves Kent just as his enemy, George Wickham appears, intent on securing Georgiana and her fortune. Who will stand between Georgiana and ruin? Who will win Jane Bennet's hand? And can Darcy and Elizabeth ever be reconciled?