Prince Amerigo, an impoverished but charismatic Italian nobleman, is in London for his marriage to Maggie Verver, who comes from a wealthy family. While there, he re-encounters Charlotte Stant, also impoverished, another young American and a former mistress from his days in Rome. Although Maggie and Charlotte have been dear friends since childhood, Maggie does not know of Charlotte and Amerigo's past relationship. After Maggie's marriage to Amerigo, she persuades her father to propose to Charlotte. Soon after the wedding, Charlotte and Amerigo begin an adulterous affair.

The Golden Bowl is a complex, intense study of marriage and adultery that completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James' career. The novel explores the tangle of interrelationships between a father and daughter and their respective spouses. It focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail, but also with powerful insight.

This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian-inspired dust jacket.