Journalist Alexa Stephens is fascinated by the life of 19th century author and scholar Margaret Fuller. She finally convinces the publisher of the magazine she works for in Madison, Wisconsin to pay her expenses to research Fuller at an obscure museum in a small town in Massachusetts. While digging through old boxes she discovers what might be a long-lost and totally unheard-of manuscript by Jane Austen. Wells writes Austen-like prose and takes the reader back to the Bennet family after the time of "Pride and Prejudice." Controversy follows the discovery.