Sisters Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, from DH Lawrence's earlier novel, The Rainbow , are central characters in what is not strictly a sequel but rather a continuation of Lawrence's inquiry into the possibilities that
human relationships hold amid the unpromising circumstances of modern industrial culture. At the beginning of the novel, the sisters have returned to teach at the grammar school in Beldover. Ursula is a teacher and Gudrun, an artist. They are are frustrated by the limitations of their environment but nothing much they can do. Ursula falls in love with Rupert Birkin, the school inspector, and Gudrun is attracted to Birkin's friend, Gerald Crich, son of a local mineowner.
Gerald replaces his father's benevolent management of the colliery with a more efficient but inhuman way. Since the accidental death of his brother when they were children, he has been haunted by guilt
feelings. As if it's not enough, his feelings are further compounded when his sister, Diana, drowns during a water-party given by the Crich family.
The friends Birkin and Gerald experience both the attraction and repulsion in their respective relationships with the Brangwen sisters, at the same time are also drawn towards each other. Gerald, however, discourages and rejects Birkin's attempt to establish a closer
intimacy between them. He pursues his passionate and ultimately destructive relationship with Gudrun Brangwen.
Ursula and Birkin marry. The four of them travel, then Birkin and Ursula depart for Verona. Gerald and Gudrun has a stormy relationship and Gudrun flirts with Loerke, a German sculptor. Gerald attacks them before wandering alone in the snow where he dies. Birkin grieves for Gerald, and explains to Ursula his vision of a man's love.
The characters in this story are, at best, concern with questions of society, politics, and emotional relationships that go with it, explored with depth and drama by DH Lawrence.