Lambert Strether, a middle-aged, yet not broadly experienced, man from Massachusetts, agrees to assume a mission for his wealthy fiancée: go to Paris and rescue her supposedly wayward son, Chad Newsome, from the clutches of a presumably wicked woman, and bring him back to the family business. On his trip in England and France Strether will encounter unexpected complications.

Henry James (1843-1916) was an American-British writer who spent most of his writing career in Britain. James is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He is best known for a number of novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, English people, and continental Europeans – examples of such novels include The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, and The Wings of the Dove.