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All of New York's high society has been gathered for a production of Gounod's opera Faust,such as Newland Archer, recently engaged to fairly May Welland. The appearance of May's cousin, the controversial Countess Olenska, who's--gasp! --separated from her husband, causes a stir in New York society also turns Newland Archer's world upside down.

Countess Olenska settles at a bohemian area and leads an unconventional way of life. Remember that unconventional in 1870s New York basically means she investigates her fish route with a salad fork. Considerable faux-pas.

Within the course of the upcoming few weeks, Newland finds himself using the hots for Countess Olenska. In a bid to get more than his attraction to her, he flees to the Wellands's vacation home in St. Augustine, Florida, to persuade May to accelerate their wedding date. Stylish approach, bro. However, when he returns to New York he finds himself not able to get over Madame Olenska.

He informs her he like-likes her, but she rejects his advances. This is not because she doesn't like-like back him, though. She thinks that running off with her cousin's fiancé would be a scumbag move, and Little Old New York has something against scumbagginess.

Part I ends as equally Madame Olenska and Newland Archer get telegrams from May, declaring the "happy" news which her parents have consented to a drastically shortened participation period. Cue a collective driven grin.

Newland and May are wed (booooo) plus they leave immediately to get a honeymoon in Europe. They tour Switzerland and France and finish their trip at London. Newland would like to take from the culture and art and enlarge his thoughts, guy, but May is largely concerned with fashion and shopping. We don't seem to have much in common," but keeps that idea to himself.

But that summer, while on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island, Newland sees Madame Olenska back along with his eyeballs turn into cartoon hearts. He tracks her down in Boston, in which they speak about how they love each other but can not do a dang thing about it. Saxophone music is most likely playing at the background.

Newland and Madame Olenska eventually choose to consummate their love with a passionate night of lace boots before she leaves New York for good.

But before they meet again, Madame Olenska ghosts and suddenly leaves for Washington, DC. A week later, May hosts a farewell supper for Madame Olenska, who's now leaving for Paris. Womp womp. That night, Archer tries to inform May about his feelings for Madame Olenska, but she informs him that she is pregnant. Not only that, but May told Madame Olenska that she was pregnant a few weeks before. This clarifies why Newland and Madame Olenska never made to get it on -- Madame Olenska wasn't trendy with sleeping with the hubby of a preggo woman.

The novel finishes twenty decades later. Newland and May have had three kids, all grown up, and May has lately died. They've had a pleasant dull existence. Newland's son Dallas invites him to move to Europe with him. In Paris Dallas accepts an invitation to get a father-son date in Madame Olenska's. When they arrive in her home, Newland decides not to join with his son at Madame Olenska's and returns to the resort without having seen her.

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