The Way We Live Now

Lady Carbury, a 43-year-old widow and aspiring author, writes letters to three powerful London editors, Nicholas Broune, Alfred Booker, and Ferdinand Alf, to solicit favorable reviews for her new book, Criminal Queens. She has a particularly flirtatious friendship with Mr. Broune, editor of the Morning Breakfast Table, and offers to review Mr. Booker's work for his paper in exchange for a positive notice. Lady Carbury lives in a state of constant financial anxiety, as her modest income is drained by her profligate son, Sir Felix, a 25-year-old baronet who has already squandered his own inheritance. Felix demands £20 from his mother to continue his courtship of Marie Melmotte, a great heiress he pursues solely for her money. He takes the money to the Beargarden, his disreputable club, where he joins a late-night gambling session and wins over £700, followed by nearly £2,000 a few nights later, all of which he keeps secret from his mother.

The social season is dominated by Augustus Melmotte, a mysterious and powerful foreign financier who has taken London by storm. He and his wife host a magnificent ball at their Grosvenor Square mansion, which is attended by the highest echelons of society. At the ball, Felix dances with Marie Melmotte and makes a whispered declaration of love. Felix's sister, Henrietta "Hetta" Carbury, attends with her mother and spends the evening with Paul Montague. Paul is the younger friend and ward of Hetta's cousin, Roger Carbury, the honorable head of the Carbury family and master of Carbury Hall. Roger is deeply in love with Hetta, but she has twice refused his proposals of marriage. Meanwhile, Paul Montague, a partner in a California farming venture with his uncle and an American named Hamilton K. Fisker, finds himself entangled with Mrs. Winifred Hurtle, an American widow to whom he was once engaged. Fisker arrives in London to launch a grand new enterprise, the South Central Pacific and Mexican Railway. He persuades Paul to arrange a meeting with Melmotte, who agrees to chair the London board of directors. The board includes Lord Alfred Grendall, Lord Nidderdale, Sir Felix, and Paul, though the venture seems more focused on floating shares than on actual construction. Paul receives handsome profits but grows increasingly uneasy about the scheme's legitimacy.

After a period of courtship, Felix secures Marie's acceptance during a visit to the country, and she tells him to ask for her father's consent. At the same time, the aristocratic but indebted Longestaffe family negotiates with Melmotte to sell him their Sussex estate, Pickering. To facilitate Felix's courtship, Lady Carbury arranges a visit to Carbury Manor, as the Melmottes are visiting the Longestaffes' nearby estate, Caversham. While there, Felix secretly continues his pursuit of Marie but also engages in a flirtation with Ruby Ruggles, the granddaughter of one of Roger's tenants. In London, Mrs. Hurtle summons Paul, who reluctantly escorts her on a trip to Lowestoft, where he attempts to end their engagement for good, stating that the marriage would make them both miserable. Felix finally approaches Melmotte, who dismisses him as a penniless suitor but offers him a fortune through railway shares if he signs a letter formally renouncing Marie. Felix signs the letter, only to receive a note from Marie revealing she has a separate, settled fortune that her father cannot control, prompting her to propose they elope.

Aided by Marie's maid, Didon, the couple plans to run away to New York. Marie provides Felix with a £250 cheque from her father to cover their expenses. In the City, Paul Montague confronts Melmotte at a board meeting about the railway's lack of transparency, but Melmotte deflects his questions, offering to either buy him out or send him to Mexico on company business. Meanwhile, Ruby Ruggles, after refusing to marry her suitor John Crumb, flees her grandfather's harsh treatment and takes refuge with her aunt, Mrs. Pipkin, in London, coincidentally lodging in the same house as Mrs. Hurtle. In the days before the elopement, Felix returns to the Beargarden. On the night before their planned departure, he gets drunk and gambles away all his money, including the £250 from Marie. Consequently, he fails to travel to Liverpool. Marie and Didon arrive alone and are met by detectives hired by Melmotte. Marie is brought back to London, where her father furiously tries to force her into a marriage with Lord Nidderdale. John Crumb, having followed Ruby to London, finds Felix with her in the street and gives him a severe thrashing. After Felix tells Hetta about Paul's alleged engagement to Mrs. Hurtle, Hetta confronts Paul, who admits to the past engagement and the recent trip to Lowestoft. Devastated, Hetta breaks their engagement. Melmotte's grand dinner for the Emperor of China is a social disaster, boycotted by many prominent guests due to widespread rumors of forgery and fraud. Later that night, Melmotte attends the House of Commons, where, heavily intoxicated, he attempts to make a speech and falls over, causing a public scandal.

The rumors of forgery against Melmotte intensify. Dolly Longestaffe's lawyer, Mr. Squercum, investigates the sale of the Pickering estate and discovers that Dolly's signature, which authorized the release of the title deeds to Melmotte, was likely forged. Desperate for money, Melmotte tries to coerce Marie into signing documents that would release her settled fortune back to him. When she refuses, he physically assaults her. He then forges her signature and that of his clerk, Croll, on the deeds. His attempt to use them as security fails when his banker, Mr. Brehgert, detects the forgery. At the same time, Melmotte's key associate, Cohenlupe, absconds with a large sum of money. Facing imminent exposure and total ruin, Augustus Melmotte takes his own life with prussic acid.

An inquest rules Melmotte's death a suicide. His vast estate is liquidated, but enough assets remain to pay his primary creditors, including the Longestaffes. Hetta, seeking the truth, visits Mrs. Hurtle, who graciously confirms Paul's unwavering loyalty to Hetta since they met, explaining the context of her own recent interactions with him. Hetta writes a letter of reconciliation to Paul, but it is lost when she sends it to the now-defunct Beargarden club. Witnessing Hetta's continued misery, Roger Carbury suppresses his own feelings for her, visits Paul to explain the misunderstanding about the lost letter, and gives his blessing to their union. He offers Carbury Manor as a home for the couple. Sir Felix, disgraced and penniless, is sent to live in Germany under the supervision of a clergyman, an arrangement financed by Mr. Broune. Lady Carbury, freed from the burden of her son, accepts a second proposal from Nicholas Broune and marries him. Marie Melmotte, having secured her independent fortune, travels to America with Hamilton K. Fisker, whom she eventually marries in San Francisco. Madame Melmotte marries Herr Croll. Ruby Ruggles finally accepts John Crumb, and they are married in Bungay. In the spring, Paul and Hetta marry at Carbury church and settle in Suffolk, where they maintain a close and loving friendship with Roger.