Anne Elliot is miserable in Bath and counts her cousin, Mr William Elliot, as one of the few acquaintances she truly values. When he suggests a visit to Lyme Regis with Lady Russell, Anne agrees, seeing this as a gesture of friendship and a much-needed escape from the Bath society she dislikes and unaware that her godmother sees a potential match between her and the heir to Kellynch Hall.

Captain Frederick Wentworth has travelled to Lyme Regis to patch up a peculiar falling out between his two friends, Captain Benwick and Captain Harville, and delay his all-but-settled engagement to Louisa Musgrove when he learns of Anne's impending engagement...