The book is a romantic novel by famed author Anthony Trollope. It is set in the town of Oxney Colne, a farming town in Devonshire. Patience is the local parson's daughter and is quite close to him as his remaining parent. But when the celebrated Captain Broughton, son of a wealthy nobleman visits, young Patience falls in love with him. All that remains is for the Captain to ask for her father's permission to marry his daughter.