Persuasion

Anne Elliot is the overlooked middle daughter of the spendthrift Sir Walter Elliot, a baronet who is all too conscious of his good looks and rank.

Anne's mother is long dead and her elder sister Elizabeth resembles her father and delights in the fact that as the eldest daughter she can assume her mother's former position in their rural neighborhood.

Anne's younger sister, Mary, is a nervous woman who has made an unspectacular marriage to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a bucolic but respected local squire.

None of her surviving family can provide much companionship for the elegant-minded Anne, who, still unmarried at 27, seems destined for spinsterhood.

Eight years earlier, Anne had been persuaded by her mother's friend, widow Lady Russell, to break her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth RN, whom she loved despite the shortness of their acquaintance.

Lady Russell had questioned the wisdom of Anne marrying a poor young naval officer without family or connections whose prospects were so uncertain.

Wentworth re-enters Anne's life when Sir Walter is forced by his own profligacy to let the family estate to none other than Wentworth's brother-in-law, Admiral Croft.

Wentworth's successes in the Napoleonic Wars resulted in his promotion and enabled him to amass the then considerable fortune of £25,000 .

The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles and Charles's younger sisters, Henrietta and Louisa, are delighted to welcome the Crofts and Wentworth to the neighborhood. Both Musgrove girls are attracted to Wentworth, though Henrietta is informally engaged to clergyman cousin Charles Hayter.

Hayter is viewed as a merely respectable match, being a bit beneath the Musgroves, socially and financially. Charles, Mary, and the Crofts continually speculate as to which one Wentworth might marry.

Captain Wentworth's visit to a close friend, Captain Harville, in nearby Lyme Regis results in a day-long outing being organized by those eager to see the resort.

While there, Louisa Musgrove sustains a concussion in a fall brought about by her own impetuous behaviour.

This highlights the difference between the headstrong Louisa and the more sensible Anne. While onlookers exclaim that Louisa is dead and her companions stand around dumbfounded, Anne administers first aid and summons assistance. Wentworth's admiration for Anne reawakens as a result.

Louisa's recovery is slow and her self-confidence is severely shaken. Her newfound timidity elicits the kind attention and reassurance of Wentworth's friend Captain Benwick, who had been mourning the recent death of his fiancee. The couple find their personalities to be now more in sympathy and they become engaged.

Meanwhile, Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's scheming friend Mrs Clay, the widowed daughter of Sir Walter's agent, have relocated to Bath.

There they hope to live in a manner befitting a baronet and his family with the least possible expense until their finances are restored to a firmer footing.

Sir Walter's cousin and heir, William Elliot, who long ago slighted the baronet, now seeks a reconciliation. Elizabeth assumes that he wishes to court her, while Lady Russell more correctly suspects that he admires Anne.

Although William Elliot seems a perfect gentleman, Anne vaguely distrusts him; she finds his character disturbingly opaque. She is enlightened by an unexpected source when she discovers an old school friend, Mrs. Smith, living in Bath in straitened circumstances.

Mrs Smith and her now-deceased husband had once been Mr Elliot's closest friends. Having encouraged them into financial extravagance, he had quickly dropped them when they became impoverished.

Anne learns, to her great distress, of his layers of deceit and calculated self-interest. In addition, her friend speculates that Mr Elliot wants to reestablish his relationship with her family primarily to safeguard his inheritance of the title, fearing a marriage between Sir Walter and Mrs Clay.

This helps her to understand more fully the dangers of persuasion (Lady Russell wished her to accept Mr Elliot's likely offer of marriage) and helps her to develop more confidence in her own judgment.

Ultimately, the Musgroves visit Bath to purchase wedding clothes for their daughters Louisa and Henrietta (who has become engaged to Hayter). Captain Wentworth and his friend Captain Harville accompany them.

In a tender scene, Anne and Wentworth reconcile and renew their engagement. The match is now more palatable to Anne's family -- their waning fortunes and Wentworth's waxing ones have made a considerable difference.

Also, ever overvaluing good looks, Sir Walter is favorably impressed with his future son-in-law's appearance. Lady Russell admits she has been completely wrong about Captain Wentworth, and she and Anne remain friends.