Following the life of the Gampton family, set on a country estate in Georgian England, the novel opens with the death of a servant who begs Henry Gampton, her master, to take care of her baby daughter, Angelina. Against his wife's wishes, Henry agrees and the child is raised alongside his own daughter, Sophia. Unaware of Angelina's background, the girls become like sisters as they grow up. However, Sophia's life is turned upside down by the death of first her mother and then her father. Inexperienced in matters of the heart, Sophia turns to her father's stable manager for comfort as her world...