Summary

The Marriage Plot tells the story of Madeleine Hanna, an English major at Brown University, and her relationships with her boyfriend Leonard Bankhead and friend Mitchell Grammaticus, over the course of several years in the 1980s.

The first section – “A Madman in Love” – begins on Madeleine’s graduation day. Madeleine awoke with a severe hangover after a night of heavy drinking. The doorbell woke her up. She answered the intercom and spoke to her parents, Alton and Phyllida, who were there to meet her for breakfast before graduation. Madeleine hurriedly got ready and went downstairs to meet them. Madeleine was upset about breaking up with her boyfriend but decided not to tell her parents what had happened.

Madeleine, Alton, and Phyllida walked to a nearby café for breakfast. Looking out of the window, Phyllida saw Madeleine’s friend Mitchell Grammaticus and...