The Return of the Native opens with Thomasin Yeobright returning from her wedding, which was aborted because of an error on the marriage license. She was supposed to wed Damon Wildeve, who seems ambivalent about the marriage, and still secretly longs for Eustacia Vye, a former lover.

Eustacia imagines a better life than that of a lonely young woman living with her grandfather in the rural southwest of England. When Thomasin’s cousin Clym returns from business in Paris, Eustacia sees him as someone who can take her away to a city with charm and beauty, so unlike the heath that she loathes. But Yeobright has other plans.

Hardy originally conceived The Return of the Native as a classical tragedy in five parts, but as it was being serialized, he added a sixth part in consideration of a public that demanded a more satisfying ending. The novel was controversial at the time, dealing with marital dissatisfaction and infidelity.