 Miss Doggett likes to entertain students and young clergy at her gloomy Victorian home in Banbury Road.When the new unmarried curate, Mr. Latimer, comes to lodge at their house, he strikes up a friendship with Miss Doggett's paid companion, the homely Jessie Morrow, through whose eyes much of the action is seen.He begins to see her as a potential wife but she rejects his proposal, knowing that his interest in her is practical rather than romantic.