Sir Willoughby Patterne, rich, fashionable and fatuous, is "The Egoist". He pursues three women, each more discerning than he, with little thought for anything but the fulfillment of his own desires and the gratification of his vanity that will come from a prestigious marriage. Clara Middleton is one of the three, but she will not be dominated by a man and is determined to assert her own value and values.
Meredith's aim was to create a comedy, and there is indeed much to laugh at in this superbly comic tale. Yet with an impressive variety of skills, he satirises many of the assumptions that prevailed in his time.