What could be more tender and more sad than the life of wealthy old maid Olive Chancellor, who dreams of dying in the struggle for women’s liberation and waits only for a sign from the universe to begin her campaign against men?
What could be more hopeless than the postwar existence of her cousin Basil Ransom, a young handsome southerner who lost not only his fortune and social position in the Civil War, but also his hope for prosperity? Only humor and old-fashioned conservative ideals keep his southern pride afloat.
And then these two suddenly collide with something completely new—something that may save them both. It is the young Verena Tarrant, with an astonishing gift for public speaking—and no less astonishing beauty…