Captain Frederick Wentworth has suffered illness and injury and as a result can remember very little of his past life. In an effort at convalescence - and sparking some memories - his brother Edward is persuaded to bring him back to Somerset, staying with the Crofts at Kellynch, and revisiting Monkford, where the two brothers once spent a happy half-year.
Anne Elliot does not expect to be confronted by Frederick Wentworth again - much less a Frederick who has no memory of their time together, or of her. But as they are reacquainted again it becomes clear that even if Frederick's mind has forgotten her, his heart has not.