Upon hearing that her father is to marry Margaret, Evie becomes upset. She feels Margaret is trying to steal her father. Dolly attempts a scheme. She suggests that Evie pretend to break her engagement off. Maybe then her father would come to his senses and not marry Margaret, because he would once again enjoy Evie’s company. Charles makes both Dolly and Evie stop their silliness. If she can do nothing else, Evie decides, she will at least change the date of her wedding from September to August, which she does.

Evie wants to hold the wedding not in London but rather in the countryside, at an estate her father has recently bought. The manor is located in Oniton Grange, far into the north country near the Welsh border. Henry Wilcox thought he had found a piece of property that others had mistakenly overlooked. Upon exploring Oniton, he had been disappointed. The hunting was no good and neither was the fishing. The scenery, according to the women in his family, was boring. But he had purchased the property, and it was at Oniton that friends and relatives of the family would be in residence for the duration of Evie’s wedding. Upon arriving at Oniton, Margaret rents a car to take her on a short tour of the village. The town has served as the marketplace for the surrounding areas for many decades, and Margaret immediately falls in love with it.

Later, as the wedding party is driving from the town center out to the Wilcox estate, one of the drivers hits a villager’s pet cat. The women are ordered into another car and whisked away without being told what has happened until they have been removed from the scene. When she learns what has happened, Margaret insists that Charles stop the car. He refuses, so Margaret jumps out while the car is still moving. She hurts her hand in her fall but insists on walking back to the place where the cat was hit. She does this is in reaction to the constant demeaning statements and behaviors that the men bestow on the women. Their expressions imply that women are weak, and Margaret has grown tired of them.

However, after viewing the scene and later arriving at the Wilcox place, Margaret apologizes to Henry and tells him that she has behaved foolishly. Again, Margaret is acting against her own core beliefs. She builds up frustration in Henry’s negative image of women and then later acquiesces to him, thus reinforcing his opinion.

After the wedding, as the celebration is coming to an end, Helen appears at Oniton. With her are Leonard and Jacky Bast. Helen is furious. She yells at Margaret and tells her that she found the Basts starving. Leonard was laid off his new job, and they were about to lose their apartment because they were behind in the rent. Helen recovered their furniture, paid their rent, and brought them to Oniton to tell Henry that he owed Leonard a job.

After hearing this, Margaret is angry with Helen for choosing Evie’s wedding as the time to make such a scene. She also tells Helen that her attitude will defeat any hope of Henry’s considering doing anything nice for Leonard. She suggests that Helen take them to a local hotel and feed them while Margaret more quietly approaches Henry with the proposal.

Helen eventually leaves but only with Leonard. They leave Jacky behind to eat some of the food left over from the wedding. While they are gone, Jacky also helps herself to the champagne. When Henry appears with Margaret, Jacky is drunk. She is not so drunk, however, that she does not recognize Henry. Jacky makes it known that she and Henry are well acquainted. Henry is embarrassed by the situation but does not deny that several years ago Jacky had been his mistress.