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How It All Goes Down

In the wake of their father's death, the Dashwood sisters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret,are left at the financial mercy of John, half-brother, and his greedy wife. Though their father asked John to take care of the girls and their distraught mother, the women end up

getting seriously shafted they're turned out of their family home, and basically left witha barely-respectable income to live on. Left to their own devices, the ladies decide tomove away to a cottage owned by a distant cousin in Barton Park, Devonshire. Beforethey move house, though, Elinor (the more practical sister) tentatively allows herself tofall in love with Edward Ferrars, the gentle brother of the girls' obnoxious sister-in-law.However, both of these young people are on the, shall we say, cautious side of theemotional spectrum, and the romance doesn't go anywhere. The Dashwood girls moveaway to their new home, leaving Edward behind.

In Devonshire, they find themselves in the company of the aforementioned cousin, Sir John Middleton, and his rather oddball family, comprised of a dully proper wife and a

hilariously raucous mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings. Also present is Sir John's good friend,Colonel Brandon, a thirty-something, somewhat stodgy, but good-hearted bachelor, whofalls for young Marianne's girlish charms. The Dashwoods try make themselves at homein the cottage, but can't help but miss their childhood home. Marianne (the less-than-

practical sister) is particularly blue that is, until she develops a love interest of her own,a dashing young man named Willoughby. Everyone gets along with the new guy justswimmingly, and the whole family expects that Marianne and Willoughby will announcetheir engagement any day. Marianne is sure that she's found her soul mate.

Things start to go wrong fairly soon, though. Willoughby leaves rather suddenly for London, for reasons we're not entirely certain of, and doesn't give any indication of when

he'll be back. Marianne takes this very hard, as she does everything. The plot continues tothicken with the arrival of an unexpected visitor Edward Ferrars. He stays with hisfriends for a week, and all the while, everyone has a great time, even morose Marianne.However, Edward's departure heralds the arrival of another set of visitors, Mrs. Palmer,Lady Middleton's hyperactive sister, and her dour husband, Mr. Palmer. The Palmers justhappen to live in the general vicinity of Willoughby's country home, and Marianne iseager for news of him but there isn't any.

After the Palmers' departure, yet another wave of newcomers washes in and this time,they're unwelcome ones. Mrs. Jennings invites some unknown relations of hers, MissSteele and her younger sister, Lucy, to come and stay at Barton Park. To cut a long storyshort, Lucy Steele admits to Elinor that she's secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars !Elinor is shocked and upset, and her hopes for the future all crumble before her eyes.

Both Dashwood sisters are now down in the dumps with regards to romance. At this low point, Mrs. Jennings asks Elinor and Marianne to accompany her to London for anextended trip, and after some squabbling, the girls accept. They embark upon their

journey with mixed feelings Marianne hoping to see Willoughby, and Elinor afraid thatshe'll run into Edward. Both of these things come to pass, but not in ways that the girls

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expect.

Willoughby avoids Marianne like the plague, despite many, many letters from her. Whenthey finally meet at a ball (by accident), he evades her once again. Soon thereafter,Marianne receives a rather cold letter of dumpage from Willoughby, and she falls ill with

the shock. Colonel Brandon, still carrying a torch for Marianne, is concerned, but alsorelieved he finally tells Elinor the horrible truth about Willoughby, which he'd beenconcealing all along, thinking that Willoughby and Marianne were engaged. It turns outthat Willoughby is a real cad; he got Colonel Brandon's adopted daughter pregnant,dumped her, and now is engaged to a super-wealthy socialite instead of Marianne.

Meanwhile, Elinor is forced to endure the company of her unwitting enemy, Lucy Steele,who's also in town. It seems that everyone is around even the Dashwoods' brother,John, and sister-in-law Fanny (sister of Edward). To make matters even worse, Elinor finds out that Fanny and Edward's mother has decided that Edward must marry anheiress, a certain Miss Morton. It seems like nothing is going right for poor Elinor, but

she tries to keep her emotions in check. However, Lucy and Edward's engagement comesto light, much to the dismay of pretty much everyone involved. The Ferrars are all in a fitabout it, and Edward is in serious trouble. Distraught, Elinor eventually confesseseverything to Marianne that she's in love with Edward, but she's known for monthsabout the secret engagement. Marianne instantly realizes that she's been too harsh on her sister; she used to berate Elinor for being too logical, but she sees now how much her older sis has been suffering.

It emerges that Edward has been cut out of the family fortune for his disobedient conduct,and that all of the money that was supposed to come his way has been given to hisobnoxious younger brother, Robert. The sympathetic Colonel Brandon helps out byoffering the young man a job as the curate at his estate, Delaford. It seems as thoughthings have worked out for Edward and Lucy (though not ideally).

Disgruntled, the Dashwoods and Mrs. Jenkins leave town, and head out to the Palmers'country house, Cleveland. The party hangs out there for a while, but Marianne can't help

but be upset by their proximity to Willoughby's ancestral home, Combe Magna. Shecatches a cold wandering around outside, and quickly becomes dangerously ill.

Everyone's in crisis mode because of Marianne's frightening illness apparently, evenWilloughby. He shows up, disheveled and distraught, having heard that Marianne is atdeath's door. He opens his heart to Eleanor, explaining that the only reason he marriedsomeone else was because of money basically, he screwed up a lot of things (namely,his relationship with Colonel Brandon's adopted daughter), and his mistakes ended up

preventing him from marrying Marianne, his true love. He leaves, after being reassuredthat Marianne's on the mend. Elinor finally forgives him (kind of) for his dastardly deeds,and knows that this story will make Marianne feel better. Elinor and Marianne's mother arrives shortly thereafter, with dramatic news of her own: Colonel Brandon has confessedthat he's in love with Marianne, and Mrs. Dashwood already regards their engagement asa foregone conclusion.

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Marianne slowly gets better in the company of her mother, sister, and friends, and finally,the little family heads back home to Barton, where Elinor tells Marianne and her mother about Willoughby's true feelings. Everyone feels something akin to resolution, at longlast. Elinor, however, is unsettled anew by a report that "Mr. Ferrars" is married to Lucy

Steele. Happily, though, there turns out to be a miscommunication; the Mr. Ferrars inquestion is Robert, the younger brother, not Edward. Elinor receives this good news fromEdward himself, who comes to finally ask her to marry him (yay!). In the end, that littleminx, Lucy, managed to ingratiate herself with the new heir to the Ferrars fortune, and

broke off her engagement with the no-longer-wealthy Edward.

In the end, everything works out Lucy gets her rich husband, and Elinor gets the manshe loves. Finally, Marianne finds her own happiness, too she learns to love ColonelBrandon back, and the pair is married. After all the drama, both Elinor and Marianne endup with their happy endings.