Catherine Sloper is a shy, plain, and not very clever young lady. She lives with her widowed father, a respected doctor, in Washington Square, a fairly new neighborhood in Greenwich Village. Catherine has a sizable income left by her mother, and stands to inherit a fortune from her father. Men don’t pay much attention to her—until she meets Mr. Townsend.

The two quickly become interested in each other, but Catherine’s father disapproves of the match. He has determined that Townsend is an idler and only cares about Catherine’s money. Catherine refuses to give up Townsend, and remains as firmly for him as her father is against him. Her meddlesome aunt, Mrs. Penniman, becomes overly involved, trying to steer each actor according to her own foolish and romantic notions.

Henry James considered Washington Square one of his poorer novels, and thought that Catherine was the only good part of it. Later critics received it more favorably. It was adapted into a play, The Heiress , in 1947, and into a film by the same name shortly after.