French swindler Augustus Melmotte meets his match when his daughter is wooed by Felix Carbury, a penniless aristocrat. Is it love, or is Felix being manipulated by his mother, aspiring novelist Lady Carbury? Felix also fancies the pretty farm girl Ruby Ruggles, but either way, all of them are in over their heads. Published in 1875, Anthony Trollope's satirical picture of late 19th century England is a portrait of a society on the verge of moral bankruptcy.