In which the early years of a young girl named Moll Flanders are recounted, revealing her humble and uncertain beginnings, her tender hopes to avoid the drudgery of servants’ work, and her innocent ambition to become a “gentlewoman” by her own honest labour. We see her nurtured by a kind nurse and favoured by gentlefolk who aid her education, while she gains the admiration of those around her, setting the stage for a life marked both by genteel appearance and the complexities of human character.