The novel follows life in a rural English community after the death of a musically absorbed mother, whose orphaned daughters are taken in by the energetic Bertha Tregaskis while neighbors negotiate guardianship, propriety, and inheritance. Interwoven domestic episodes track youthful coming-of-age, a returned Oxford graduate whose romantic choices complicate expectations, and the observations of a detached narrator who records manners, gossip, and private anxieties. Themes include social duty, the clash between artistic temperament and conventional upbringing, class performance, and the practical challenges of caretaking, all delivered with satirical wit and close attention to dialogue-driven character interaction.