The heroine of this powerful novel is the spirited young American Isabel Archer. Blessed by nature and fortune, she journeys to Europe to seek the full realisation of her potential - or in modern terms, "to find herself" - but what awaits her there may prove to be her undoing. During her journey, wooers vie for her attention, including an English aristocrat, a perfect American gentleman and a sensitive expatriate. But it is only after the ingenue falls prey to the schemes of an infinitely sophisticated older woman that her life takes on its true form.