England, 1840. For the two decades following the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen has lived alone and unwed, spending her days visiting friends and relations and quietly, purposefully working to preserve her sister's pristine reputation. Now in her 60s and increasingly frail, Cassandra goes to stay with the Fowles of Kintbury, a family of her long-dead fiancÔe, in search of a trove of Jane's letters. Dodging her melancholy hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the buried secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister's legacy to the flames?