Three men have afternoon tea outside a picturesque English country house. Mr. Touchett, the old, wealthy American who owns the house, his sickly son, Ralph, and an Englishman, Lord Warburton, converse casually. They discuss the upcoming arrival of the old man’s niece, who will be escorted to England by his estranged wife.

The niece, Isabel Archer, arrives. She enters informally and immediately picks up Ralph’s small dog, speaking to it affectionately. Her chaperone, Mrs. Touchett, has already retired to her room without greeting her husband. Via Isabel, Mrs. Touchett tells Ralph to come see her at a designated time. Isabel charms each of the men present with her conversation and confident manner.

The narrator characterizes Mrs. Touchett as an odd and independent woman, who is in effect separated from her husband and lives primarily in Florence. Her feud with Isabel’s father had begun when she criticized his parenting after her sister’s death. Mrs. Touchett remembers traveling to Albany to see her nieces after their father’s death. Isabel has great affection for the house, which belonged to her late grandmother, and enjoys reading and solitude there. Arriving at the house when Isabel is home alone reading, Mrs.