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Chapter One
Lawrence Selden is in New York's Grand Central Station and is refreshed at the sight of the beautiful Lily Bart. He offers to take her back to his apartment for tea, and she accepts. This is not necessarily acceptable during this time period, because he is a bachelor and she is a single woman. While she's there, Selden asks if Lily is planning on marrying. She responds by saying that she's waiting for the right man (right meaning very rich). When leaving, she runs into Rosedale who's suspicious. -
Chapter Two
Lily is on a train headed to a party at the Trenor's. She soon spots Percy Gryce and decides to talk to him. She soon discovers his inexperience with women, and remembers that he's very rich. She decides to flatter him and try to get him to marry her despite his boring personality. -
Chapter Three
Lily plays Bridge all night at the party and ends up losing around $300, which is quite a lot. She realizes angrily that both Mrs. Trenor and Mrs. Dorset, who were already rich, walked away with piles of winnings while she gets nothing. We are given information about Lily's family through a flashback and we now know that they were poor and living a poor lifestyle had made her mother bitter and extremely unhappy. Lily goes to live with Mrs. Peniston, her aunt. -
Chapter Four
It is revealed that Mrs. Dorset and Lawrence Selden had an affair in the past. Selden claims it's over, but Mrs. Dorset is not ready to let go of him yet. Lily is standing on a terrace at a party, and just when Selden approaches her Mrs. Dorset sweeps in and steals him away, leaving Lily alone and wondering where they've gone. -
Chapter Five
Lily plans to go to church with Percy and seal the deal with him. However, she suddenly realizes with horror that if she marries Percy she will have to go with him to church every Sunday for the rest of her life. She freaks herself out and decides not to go. Later in the chapter, Lily runs into Selden and Mrs. Dorset in the library, doing who-knows-what but certainly very comfortable with one another. The chapter ends with Selden asking Lily to join him on an afternoon walk. -
Chpater Six
On her walk with Selden, Lily wonders what it is that she finds so interesting about him. She's not sure if it's a romantic attraction or not, but she knows she sure does spend a lot of time thinking about him. Eventually, Lily realizes how bleak her future looks and cries a little while Selden attempts to comfort her. Lily asks Selden if he wants to marry her and he says no, because he knows that's not what she really wants. If she married him she'd never have the luxurious life of her dreams. -
Chapter Seven
Mrs. Dorset feels that Lily has stolen Selden away from her. She retaliates by telling Percy a bunch of bad things about Lily. Frightened, Percy runs away to avoid having to see Lily again. Lily then hatches an alternate plan to get money from the rich Mr. Trenor, who's in the stock market. She takes advantage of her knowledge that Mr. Trenor finds her attractive, and by the end of a carriage ride with him he offers to take about $500 from her and see what he can do with it on the market. -
Chapter Eight
The chapter begins with Lily receiving a $1,000 check from Mr. Trenor. She pays off some debts and puts in some new orders too. She is managing to keep Gus happy by acting flirtatious around him and pretending to be interested. But Lily is soon startled to discover that Percy has plans to marry Evie Van Osburgh, who's family is so rich already that she is no need of his money. This disgusts Lily and as a result, she has trouble putting up with Gus getting a little to comfortable with her. -
Chapter Nine
A package is delivered to Mrs. Peniston's doorstep, which Lily opens. It's a bundle of letters addressed to Selden and written by Mrs. Dorset. The letters are quite recent. Now Lily has evidence of their affair, and she could easily blackmail Mrs. Dorset with it. However, we see maturity in Lily when she feels disgust at being involved in this "vileness". She has major power over Mrs. Dorset, as something like this would ruin her entire social status. But Lily hides the letters away. -
Chapter Ten
Lily makes a sizable donation to Gerty Farish's philanthropy group, which makes her feel pretty good about herself. Rosedale invites Lily to an opera and offers to share his box with her on opening night. Mr. Trenor is also there and is desperate to see Lily. When she arrives, Lily is enjoying thinking about her own beauty until Gus gets angry. He's upset that Lily doesn't spend any extra time with him. Lily says he can visit her anytime, but he wants to be ALONE with her. -
Chapter Eleven
Grace Stepney is invited to a dinner that is being held by Mrs. Peniston for the newlyweds Jack and Gwen. Grace is excited to be invited, because she is often ignored socially. But as the dinner approaches, she is suddenly uninvited. She can only assume this is Lily's doing, so to get back at her Grace tells Mrs. Peniston about the rumors that Lily and Gus are having an affair. She also informs Lily's aunt of her gambling debts. Mrs. Peniston dismisses Grace but wonders if it could all be true. -
Chapter Twelve
Lily is invited to a party where she, along with some other women, are basically supposed to put themselves on display for men to look at. Lily loves it. Selden in particular takes notice of how beautiful Lily is. He takes her outside with him, confesses his love for her, and they kiss. But Lily's nerves seem to suddenly get the better of her, for she pulls away and says he can love her, but he shouldn't tell her so. Meanwhile, Mr. Trenor is mad that Lily put herself on display for other men. -
Chapter Thirteen
Lily receives a note from Mrs. Trenor that she should come over and visit her. When Lily arrives, only Mr. Trenor is around. When Lily inquires about Mrs. Trenor, Gus lies and says she's upstairs sick. Lily says she can come back another time, but Gus insists she stays. Mr. Trenor soon reveals that his wife is not home, and says that Lily owes him "something more" for his money. Panicked, Lily says she will pay back the money she owes him and manages to flee the house. -
Chapter Fourteen
This chapter begins the morning before Lily's encounter with Mr. Trenor. It is revealed that Gerty Farish has feelings for Selden, but Selden spends the whole day thinking about Lily. Selden and another man happen to be walking by the Trenor's house when Lily escapes that night. They see her jump hurriedly into a cab. She heads to Gerty's house because she doesn't know where else to go. Gerry doesn't like Lily because she knows Selden likes her, but when she sees her so desperate, she helps. -
Chapter Fifteen
Lily goes home and does some calculations, realizing that she owes Mr. Trenor about $9,000. Lily asks Mrs. Peniston to help her with some "gambling debts", because that would be better than telling her the truth. But still, her aunt is horrified and refuses. Later, Lily runs into Rosedale who very suddenly says he wants to marry her. He knows she needs cash, and he needs a woman who will help his social status. Lily says she'll think about it. She's invited onto the Dorset's yacht for a vacation