Penelope Hamilton is a young American lady, genteelly poor, abroad in England with her friends Francesca, who is young and flighty, and Salemina, a sophisticated gentlewoman. Together they explore the British way of life, from the bustling Saturday-night street markets and the polite fiction of privacy courting couples enjoy on park strolls to elegant balls at which young ladies make their social debuts to the cheery innkeepers who take the travellers under their wing.