Catharine, an orphan living with her maiden aunt in Devon and sorely missing her absent friends Cecilia and Mary Wynne, is delighted by the visit of her cousin Camilla Stanley, a spirited if somewhat silly young woman. The Stanleys bring a taste of high society, but the arrival of their unreliable son Edward introduces company of a different kind. Jane Austen's early unfinished novel is a delightful foretaste of the immortal novels and characters to follow.