Set in 17th-century China, Peony, the 15-year-old daughter of the wealthy Chen family, approaching an arranged marriage, commits an unforgivable breach of etiquette when she accidentally comes upon a man who has entered the family garden. Unusually for a girl of her time, Peony has been educated but like many generations of young Chinese women, Peony has become obsessed with an opera called The Peony Pavillion and she revels in its study. The novel's plot mirrors that of the opera, and eternal themes abound: an intelligent girl chafing against the restrictions of expected behavior; fiction's educative power; the rocky path of love between lovers and in families.