On being alerted of Jane Bennet's persistent melancholy by her sister Madeline Gardiner, Mrs Bennet travels to London in order to bring some cheer to her daughter. Once there, she overhears a conversation between her two elder daughters and becomes aware of Caroline Bingley's perfidy in keeping the truth of Jane's visit to their home from her brother.

When Fitzwilliam Darcy makes an impetuous offer of marriage to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, he is convinced they have as good a chance as any for a harmonious life together. That is, until an overheard conversation changes everything, and Darcy realizes he is now joined in perpetuity to a woman who loathes the very sight of him. Elizabeth Bennet's expectations for matrimonial accord were never very high, having accepted Mr. Darcy's proposal in a fit of pique, not love. Still, she is determined to make the best of her situation. But life at Pemberley is not at all what she imagined.

In the spring of 1812, Elizabeth and Lydia are the only Bennet daughters still unmarried after the death of their father. Elizabeth's health and spirits worsen as she moves among relations as an unwanted, dependent sister. She returns to Mary and Mr. Collins at Longbourn to learn that the neighborhood gossip centers on the reclusive Mr. Darcy. Darcy and his sister live an isolated life in a small rented lodge near Netherfield after the events at Ramsgate. As Georgiana's health is failing, Darcy has his own regrets to bear.

Fitzwilliam Darcy has had enough—enough of the ton and their speculations, enough of matchmaking mamas and their eager daughters, and enough of his family’s expectations that he will eventually marry his cousin Anne. Craving solitude and peace after discovering his sister with George Wickham in Ramsgate, he accepts an invitation to visit Netherfield Park from his friend Charles Bingley and travels to Hertfordshire, where he hopes Georgiana will recover from her disappointment in relative privacy.

A ride on a stormy day has disastrous consequences for Fitzwilliam Darcy, who finds himself grievously injured and bedridden–and with no memory of Elizabeth Bennet, the woman to whom he has been married for several years. Recovery is slow as his head injury has made it difficult for him to read and write, and a suspected fracture in his leg has made walking painful.