In Chancery, the second novel in John Galsworthy's epic social satire The Forsyte Saga, follows the events of A Man of Property. After suffering the death of her lover and abuse from her husband Soames, Irene Forsyte finally leaves her marriage for good. Though socially disgraced by her affair, she forms a bond with the late Old Jolyon, a father of the Forsyte clan who had grown distant from the family after reconciling with one of his outcast sons. The young Jolyon had been disinherited after divorcing his wife to marry a penniless foreign governess.

Now, with both his father and his beloved wife dead, the younger Jolyon finds himself drawn in sympathy to Irene, who was so dear to Old Jolyon in his final days. Their shared troubles blossom into a romance, to the horror of Soames Forsyte.