In which Maisie’s education under the care of Mrs. Wix unfolds with a fervent diligence that seems to overspill with the urgency of retarded knowledge, amidst the complex and shifting affections and resentments of the adult world around her. Throughout this bustling season of lessons and occasional society excursions, the child navigates the delicate tensions between her mother, her stepfather Sir Claude, and her former governess, with a growing sense of the powerful and sometimes bewildering passions that govern their conduct.