Left impoverished upon the death of her aunt Emma Watson has no option but to be reunited with her estranged father & siblings. Initially delighted with her new life
- including the fashionable society balls she now has access to
- Emma soon realises that her family harbour many ill feelings not least those springing from the sisters hopes
- & disappointments
- in snaring a husb&. So when the eligible & suitably rich Tom Musgrove begins to transfer his affections from her sister Margaret to her the result can only be further sibling rivalry & unrest.