Emma

Emma Woodhouse's friend and former governess, Miss Taylor, has just married Mr Weston. Emma takes credit for bringing them together and feels herself skilled at matchmaking. Against the advice of her friend Mr Knightley, Emma attempts to match her new friend, Harriet Smith, with Mr Elton, the vicar of Highbury. Emma persuades Harriet to refuse a marriage proposal from respectable young farmer Robert Martin, although Harriet likes him. Mr Elton, a social climber, mistakenly believes Emma is in love with him and proposes to her. When Emma reveals she believed him attached to Harriet, he is outraged, considering Harriet socially inferior. Mr Elton goes to Bath and returns with a pretentious, nouveau-riche wife, as Mr Knightley had predicted. Harriet is heartbroken, and Emma feels ashamed for misleading her.
Mr Weston's son Frank Churchill arrives for a two-week visit. Adopted as a boy by his wealthy and domineering aunt, Frank has rarely visited his father. Jane Fairfax also arrives to visit her aunt, Miss Bates, and grandmother, Mrs Bates. She is now twenty-one and intends to support herself by becoming a governess. She is the same age as Emma and has received an excellent education through her father's friend, Colonel Campbell, but has no financial resources. Emma envies her and is annoyed by everyone's praise of Jane. Mrs Elton takes Jane under her wing and announces that she will find her a governess post.
Emma decides that Jane arrived earlier than expected because of an attraction to Mr Dixon, Colonel Campbell's new son-in-law. She confides this to Frank, who met Jane and the Campbells at Weymouth the previous year, and he apparently agrees. Suspicions are further fuelled when a piano is sent anonymously for Jane. Emma believes she is falling in love with Frank, but it does not last. The Eltons treat Harriet poorly, culminating in Mr Elton publicly snubbing Harriet at a ball. Mr Knightley, who normally refrained from dancing, gallantly asks Harriet to dance. The day after the ball, Frank brings Harriet to Hartfield, as she fainted after a rough encounter with local gypsies. Emma mistakes Harriet's gratitude for being in love with Frank. During an excursion to Box Hill, a local scenic spot, Frank and Emma are joking when Emma thoughtlessly mocks Miss Bates's loquaciousness.

When Mr Knightley scolds Emma for making fun of Miss Bates, she is ashamed. The next day, she visits Miss Bates to atone for her bad behaviour. During the visit, Emma learns that Jane has accepted a governess position from one of Mrs Elton's friends. However, Jane is ill and refuses to see Emma or receive her gifts. When word comes that Frank's aunt has died, he and Jane reveal to the Westons that they have been secretly engaged since autumn. Frank knew his aunt would disapprove of the match. Maintaining the secrecy strained the conscientious Jane and caused the couple to quarrel, with Jane ending the engagement. Frank's easy-going uncle readily gives his blessing to the match. The engagement is made public, leaving Emma annoyed to discover that she had been so wrong.
Emma believes Frank's engagement will devastate Harriet, but instead, Harriet says she loves Mr Knightley. Though she knows the match is too unequal, Emma's encouragement and Mr Knightley's kindness have given her hope. Emma is startled and realises that she is in love with Mr Knightley. He returns to console Emma about Frank and Jane's engagement. When she admits her foolishness, he proposes, and she accepts. Harriet accepts Robert Martin's second proposal, and they are the first couple to marry. Jane and Emma reconcile, and Frank and Jane visit the Westons. Once the mourning period for Frank's aunt ends, they will marry. Before the end of November, Emma and Mr Knightley are married with the prospect of "perfect happiness". They will live at Hartfield with Mr Woodhouse.