Isabel Archer is a beautiful, spirited American who becomes a victim of her own provincialism during her travels in Europe. Determined to control her own fate, she turns down two eligible suitors and using an inheritance, she travels. But her fortune only leads her to make a tragic choice and marry Gilbert Osmond, An American expatriate who lives in Florence. The book is the story of her survival as she begins to realize that true freedom means living with one's choices despite the consequences.
