Molly Gibson, the provincial doctor’s daughter, is a girl who’s not at all unintelligent and is very observant (in a small Victorian town where, quite literally, everyone has their own skeletons in the closet). However, her natural sincerity and her readiness to help others again and again constantly put her in complicated situations—especially since she begins to be friends with her new stepsister, the beautiful Cynthia, who keeps some secret; with Osborne Hemley, a kind-hearted rake from a wealthy family, who also has something to hide; and with his younger brother Roger, a young and promising scholar who has captured Molly’s heart, but who himself is in love with Cynthia…