A first-person narrator recalls his ardent infatuation with a young, orphaned heiress who lives in a white house by a garden; the provincial town idolizes her, suitors gather, and the narrator's idealized longing frames the story. The narrative mixes lyrical, evocative description with satirical asides directed at critics and social commentators, exploring themes of beauty, youthful desire, modest means, and class contrast. Episodes shift between domestic interiors and public streets, emphasizing inner reverie and communal attention, and offering a meditation on romantic obsession, artistic sensibility, and the tensions between private feeling and public judgment.