How It All Goes Down

In the wake of their father's death, the Dashwood sisters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret,
are left at the financial mercy of John, half-brother, and his greedy wife. Though their
father asked John to take care of the girls and their distraught mother, the women end up
getting seriously shafted – they're turned out of their family home, and basically left with
a barely-respectable income to live on. Left to their own devices, the ladies decide to
move away to a cottage owned by a distant cousin in Barton Park, Devonshire. Before
they move house, though, Elinor (the more practical sister) tentatively allows herself to
fall in love with Edward Ferrars, the gentle brother of the girls' obnoxious sister-in-law.
However, both of these young people are on the, shall we say, cautious side of the
emotional spectrum, and the romance doesn't go anywhere. The Dashwood girls move
away to their new home, leaving Edward behind.

In Devonshire, they find themselves in the company of the aforementioned cousin, Sir
John Middleton, and his rather oddball family, comprised of a dully proper wife and a
hilariously raucous mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings. Also present is Sir John's good friend,
Colonel Brandon, a thirty-something, somewhat stodgy, but good-hearted bachelor, who
falls for young Marianne's girlish charms. The Dashwoods try make themselves at home
in the cottage, but can't help but miss their childhood home. Marianne (the less-than-
practical sister) is particularly blue – that is, until she develops a love interest of her own,
a dashing young man named Willoughby. Everyone gets along with the new guy just
swimmingly, and the whole family expects that Marianne and Willoughby will announce
their engagement any day. Marianne is sure that she's found her soul mate.

Things start to go wrong fairly soon, though. Willoughby leaves rather suddenly for
London, for reasons we're not entirely certain of, and doesn't give any indication of when
he'll be back. Marianne takes this very hard, as she does everything. The plot continues to
thicken with the arrival of an unexpected visitor – Edward Ferrars. He stays with his
friends for a week, and all the while, everyone has a great time, even morose Marianne.
However, Edward's departure heralds the arrival of another set of visitors, Mrs. Palmer,
Lady Middleton's hyperactive sister, and her dour husband, Mr. Palmer. The Palmers just
happen to live in the general vicinity of Willoughby's country home, and Marianne is
eager for news of him – but there isn't any.

After the Palmers' departure, yet another wave of newcomers washes in… and this time,
they're unwelcome ones. Mrs. Jennings invites some unknown relations of hers, Miss
Steele and her younger sister, Lucy, to come and stay at Barton Park. To cut a long story
short, Lucy Steele admits to Elinor that she's secretly engaged – to Edward Ferrars!
Elinor is shocked and upset, and her hopes for the future all crumble before her eyes.

Both Dashwood sisters are now down in the dumps with regards to romance. At this low
point, Mrs. Jennings asks Elinor and Marianne to accompany her to London for an
extended trip, and after some squabbling, the girls accept. They embark upon their
journey with mixed feelings – Marianne hoping to see Willoughby, and Elinor afraid that
she'll run into Edward. Both of these things come to pass, but not in ways that the girls
expect.

Willoughby avoids Marianne like the plague, despite many, many letters from her. When
they finally meet at a ball (by accident), he evades her once again. Soon thereafter,
Marianne receives a rather cold letter of dumpage from Willoughby, and she falls ill with
the shock. Colonel Brandon, still carrying a torch for Marianne, is concerned, but also
relieved – he finally tells Elinor the horrible truth about Willoughby, which he'd been
concealing all along, thinking that Willoughby and Marianne were engaged. It turns out
that Willoughby is a real cad; he got Colonel Brandon's adopted daughter pregnant,
dumped her, and now is engaged to a super-wealthy socialite instead of Marianne.

Meanwhile, Elinor is forced to endure the company of her unwitting enemy, Lucy Steele,
who's also in town. It seems that everyone is around – even the Dashwoods' brother,
John, and sister-in-law Fanny (sister of Edward). To make matters even worse, Elinor
finds out that Fanny and Edward's mother has decided that Edward must marry an
heiress, a certain Miss Morton. It seems like nothing is going right for poor Elinor, but
she tries to keep her emotions in check. However, Lucy and Edward's engagement comes
to light, much to the dismay of pretty much everyone involved. The Ferrars are all in a fit
about it, and Edward is in serious trouble. Distraught, Elinor eventually confesses
everything to Marianne – that she's in love with Edward, but she's known for months
about the secret engagement. Marianne instantly realizes that she's been too harsh on her
sister; she used to berate Elinor for being too logical, but she sees now how much her
older sis has been suffering.

It emerges that Edward has been cut out of the family fortune for his disobedient conduct,
and that all of the money that was supposed to come his way has been given to his
obnoxious younger brother, Robert. The sympathetic Colonel Brandon helps out by
offering the young man a job as the curate at his estate, Delaford. It seems as though
things have worked out for Edward and Lucy (though not ideally).

Disgruntled, the Dashwoods and Mrs. Jenkins leave town, and head out to the Palmers'
country house, Cleveland. The party hangs out there for a while, but Marianne can't help
but be upset by their proximity to Willoughby's ancestral home, Combe Magna. She
catches a cold wandering around outside, and quickly becomes dangerously ill.

Everyone's in crisis mode because of Marianne's frightening illness – apparently, even

Willoughby. He shows up, disheveled and distraught, having heard that Marianne is at
death's door. He opens his heart to Eleanor, explaining that the only reason he married
someone else was because of money – basically, he screwed up a lot of things (namely,
his relationship with Colonel Brandon's adopted daughter), and his mistakes ended up
preventing him from marrying Marianne, his true love. He leaves, after being reassured
that Marianne's on the mend. Elinor finally forgives him (kind of) for his dastardly deeds,
and knows that this story will make Marianne feel better. Elinor and Marianne's mother
arrives shortly thereafter, with dramatic news of her own: Colonel Brandon has confessed
that he's in love with Marianne, and Mrs. Dashwood already regards their engagement as
a foregone conclusion.
Marianne slowly gets better in the company of her mother, sister, and friends, and finally,
the little family heads back home to Barton, where Elinor tells Marianne and her mother
about Willoughby's true feelings. Everyone feels something akin to resolution, at long
last. Elinor, however, is unsettled anew by a report that "Mr. Ferrars" is married to Lucy
Steele. Happily, though, there turns out to be a miscommunication; the Mr. Ferrars in
question is Robert, the younger brother, not Edward. Elinor receives this good news from
Edward himself, who comes to finally ask her to marry him (yay!). In the end, that little
minx, Lucy, managed to ingratiate herself with the new heir to the Ferrars fortune, and
broke off her engagement with the no-longer-wealthy Edward.

In the end, everything works out – Lucy gets her rich husband, and Elinor gets the man
she loves. Finally, Marianne finds her own happiness, too – she learns to love Colonel
Brandon back, and the pair is married. After all the drama, both Elinor and Marianne end
up with their happy endings.