Some 200 years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, but in the wake of World War II, the town is home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both the author's home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different, and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they band together to attempt something remarkable.