When Mr. Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, visits his landlord at Wuthering Heights, he is astounded by the unorthodox character of the man and his household. Back at the Grange, he asks his servant, Nelly, about the family. She tells him a strange, multigenerational tale of love, class, jealousy, and revenge.

Thirty years earlier, Mr. Earnshaw, master of Wuthering Heights, returned from a trip to Liverpool with an unkempt orphan in tow, announcing to his wife and children that the child was now a member of the family. While young Catherine Earnshaw became close with this boy, Heathcliff, her older brother Hindley sank into bitter resentment of the urchin who had usurped his father's and his sister's affections—a feeling that only deepened when his father sent him away to college. As Catherine and Heathcliff grew into young adults, and their affection blossomed into desire, Hindley's resentment boiled over into hatred, setting the stage for a tragic and twisted drama whose aftermath would shake the foundations of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

Introduced to a serpentine plot; emotionally tortured, larger-than-life characters; and a richly gothic atmosphere, many critics viewed Wuthering Heights as a brilliant folly when it was first published. Readers have spent the last century and a half making it one of the most popular novels in history.