"The Portrait of a Lady" is a novel by Henry James.
Isabel Archer, a
penniless orphan of Albany, New York, becomes
the protegee of her wealthy aunt, Lydia Touchett. She goes to England to stay with her aunt Lydia and uncle, a retired American banker, and their tubercular son, Ralph, who persuades his father to provide for Isabel in his will.
When Mr Touchett dies, Isabel finds herself rich. A free-thinker and in search of herself, she travels the continent with Mrs Touchett and her friend, Madame Merle.
In Florence, Madame Merle introduces her to Gilbert Osmond, a middle-aged widower with a young daughter, Pansy. Isabel has had previous
marriage proposals. One is from Casper Goodwood, a rich young American, and another, from Lord Warburton, an English neighbour of the Touchetts.
Impressed with Osmond's taste and intellectual detachment, she accepts his proposal, only to discover that he has only married her for money.
When she hears that her cousin Ralph is dying she prepares to depart for England to be with him, but Osmond forbids her to go. It is at this point that she discovers Madame Merle is in fact Pansy's mother, and she at last understands the woman's part in the scheme of her marriage to Osmond. Isabel was able to depart for England after a final confrontation with Madame Merle. She got to Ralph's bed side when he dies. Casper Goodwood makes a last attempt to gain back Isabel. Although she feels attraction for Casper, she rejects him and instead, returns to Osmond and Pansy in Italy.
This story has been made into a film in 1996, starring Nicole Kidman as Isabel Archer and John Malkovich as Gilbert Osmond.