Ann Veronica is a young Englishwoman in her twenties, living in London and its environs at the peak of the suffragist movement. She is both intelligent and beautiful, and not devoid of intellectual ambition, all of which gives her many challenges to overcome. Her father is limited, limiting and repressive, her aunt is a slave to notions of propriety, she is misperceived and misunderstood by most of the men with whom she comes into contact, and her youth and sheltered background make it difficult for her to know what she wants and balance it with what is available to her. Ann Veronica "Vee" asks the question "why can't a woman be like a man" and sets out to find out why. She discovers all sorts of men, some stuffy and some devious. She may one day stumble over the perfect man. She tries to be independent and is thwarted at every turn; that is until she realizes there are better things to do than just compete.