Ella's always been a simple child. She didn't want anything other than a book in her hands and her brother by her side. When her brother finally figures out his invention and ventures out to find someone to buy it, he doesn't return. A creepy mansion, some talking furniture and, oh yeah, a giant animal big enough to kill her with one big step. What's the worst that could happen? This is a retelling of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast.

The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.