Margaret Schlegel and her sister Helen have their first encounter with the Wilcox family when Helen and the younger Wilcox have an affair that is abruptly ended, leaving sour memories to the two familes. A series of coincidences bring Margaret and the dying Ruth Wilcox together in a friendship that leads Ruth to bequeath to Margaret her beloved home, Howards End. Desperate to keep the Schlegels away from their property, the Wilcox family burns the evidence.