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.

In 1876, western men sweep mail-order brides off their feet as soon as they arrive in town, but not Isabel Grant. Capt. Pichon rejects her for being "a skinny, school-girl" and is left in town to wait three days for the next train. Sgt. John Webster delivers the news to her and is drawn to protect this porcelain doll. Isabel discovers her independence, but she finds out she doesn't have the legal right to be independent. Will she go back to a life of poverty? Will she be forced to marry? Will she be allowed to stay? Read about Isabel in Porcelain White.