The gentle and unassuming Reverend Maynard Gilfil harbors a deep, unspoken love for a beautiful and delicate woman named Caterina. She, in turn, is consumed by her unrequited love for a dashing young captain who is promised to another. As the tangled web of emotions unravels, passions and jealousies ignite, leading to a tragic turn of events that will forever change the lives of those involved.

GEORGE ELIOT, pseudonym for MARY ANN EVANS [1819-1880], was an English novelist. Several of her works are considered among the most important in British literature within a realistic novel tradition. They often unfold in the English countryside and are characterized by a deeply empathetic psychological portrayal that was ahead of its time.