The intelligent and charming Newland Archer o a member of one of New York's most prominent families o is living the life that has always been expected of him- he is a successful lawyer engaged to the beautiful and well-connected May Welland. However, with the arrival of May's cousin, the free-spirited and unconventional Countess Ellen Olenska, doubts begin to grow in Newland's mind. As the bond between them grows, Newland comes increasingly to question all that had once seemed so simple.
An extraordinarily well-observed dissection of New York's high society in the 1870s o the world Edith Wharton grew up in o The Age of Innocence shines a critical light on the social mores and values of the old order.