Desperate to escape her unhappy past, Lucy Snowe leaves England for the Continent and takes up the post of English teacher at a girls' boarding school in the town of Villette.
There, she battles with her own feelings of isolation and loneliness, not to mention the unruly and flirtatious behaviour of her students. However, an even greater challenge is the jealous watchfulness of her employer Madame Beck, who sets out to disrupt the growing affection between Lucy and the fiery-tempered professor Paul Emanuel.
Villette, published in 1853, was inspired by Charlotte Brontë's own experiences as a governess in Brussels.