15-year-old Mary Peveril and her widowed clergyman father seem to be everything to each other - until he rather suddenly decides to marry a young woman in her twenties. Mary is all at once pushed into the shade, and jealously watches the other Mary take her place in her father's heart. Even Mary's first experience in love is complicated by the nearness of the other Mary. As originally serialised in four parts, the first two parts deal with the relationship between young Mary and her stepmother Mary, and can stand as a story on their own. (See publishing notes below.) The last two parts are a sequel to the original story, focusing on the new life which the now-widowed stepmother Mary builds for herself.