The plot of the novel begins seven years after the broken engagement of Anne Elliot to then Commander Frederick Wentworth. Anne Elliot, then 19 years old, fell in love and accepted a proposal of marriage from the handsome young naval officer. He was clever, confident, ambitious, and employed, but not yet wealthy and with no particular family connections to recommend him. Sir Walter, her father and her older sister Elizabeth were not pleased with her choice, maintaining that he was no match for an Elliot of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's late mother, persuaded her to break the engagement, for she felt it was an imprudent match for one so young. They are the only ones who know about this short engagement, as younger sister Mary was away at school.