Sensitive, romantic Marianne faces the life-changing event of losing her father and the home she shares with her sisters Elinor and Margaret and her melancholy mother. After downsizing to an apartment provided by a kind cousin, Marianne meets the kind, dashing, and altruistic young Colonel Brandon, who falls immediately for Marianne. But before Brandon can make any gentlemanly advances, Marianne meets the very suave, handsome young doctor John Willoughby and falls blindly in love with him without caution, as Elinor would hope. A passionate love affair ensues between John and Marianne; however, events and choices John has made may destroy Marianne's hopes of marriage. Brandon, who knows of John's secrets, contemplates how he can tell Marianne without overstepping his boundaries. Marianne is on everyone's mind, all worried for her heart, all except Marianne who believes in full speed ahead when it comes to love and passion.