Gilbert Markham falls in love with the new residents widow Helen. She lives in a ramshackle building where some rooms are adapted for her and her son and a housekeeper. Gilbert notice that Helen also has feelings for him, but still she encounters him away. Finally, Helen gives him a diary that will explain that she can not accept his love. She has run away from her husband.
This novel describes how hard a woman could have it this time and man power to do as he pleased with his family and his wife's money. Well worth reading if you are interested in the living of aristocratic playboy life with hunting, gambling, drinking and women. And how the wife feels about it,