Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley together leave the shelter of Miss Pinkerton`s Academy for Young Ladies. They now inhabit the infinitely more fascinating and dangerous Vanity Fair where the only standard is worldly success. Becky, charming and amoral, is well-fitted for the fight; when an ill-judged bowl of punch ruins her plans for marriage, her quick wits soon find a range of alternatives. But sweet and sentimental Amelia only longs for her worthless soldier lover.
There are battles, military and domestic, fortunes made and lost, elopements and betrayals. The corrupt, the grotesque and the downright wicked all struggle to make their way amongst the tawdry glamour of the Regency. And through the narrative strolls the relaxed figure of the author, pointing out a moral here and there as he shines a light into society` s murkier corners.