The story centres on the personalities of the two sisters, whose contrasting temperaments are examined as they undergo comparable experiences in the loss of the men they love, it rejoices also in a wealth of minor characters such as the comic Mrs Jennings and Sir John and Lady Middleton, drawn with consummate satiric skill.
When two sisters appear to be deserted by the young men they had intended to marry, the stage is set for a delicious comedy of manners that not only showcases Austen's perception, humor and incomparable prose, but offers a splendid glimpse of upper and middle-class English society of the early 19th century.