Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo - free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight - the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father...

Lucy Honeychurch, a young middle-class girl, travels with her spinster cousin, Charlotte Bartlett, to Florence where they are on holiday at an Italian pension set up specifically for vacationers from Great Britain. There Lucy meets Mr. Emerson and his son, George, whom she encounters quite unexpectedly on walks and carriage rides. George and Lucy have unsuspected, intimate talks which happen without any intention of hypothetical conclusion. George...

A charming, young English woman finds herself at war with the snobbery of her class and her own conflicting desires when she is attracted to someone socially unsuitable.