Lily Bart is an attractive woman with some important social
and family ties, but at the age of 29, she
is still not married. Since the death of her mother, who had an
intense hatred for "dinginess," Lily began to live with her aunt,
Mrs. Peniston. However, Lily spends much of her time staying at
the Bellomont, the out-of-town estate of the wealthy and well-establish
Gus and Judy Trenor. At the Bellomont, Judy regularly throws extravagant
parties that are attended by most of the New York upper-crust. They
play bridge for money, which is problematic for Lily because she
has a gambling addiction and cannot stop gambling, even though it
ruins her financially.
Lily has two main goals in the book: marriage and wealth.
It is her hope to marry a rich man, thereby securing her place in
society, but due to her own indecision, she passes up numerous chances, always
thinking she can do better. Unfortunately, Lily's true love, Lawrence
Selden, does not have enough money for her to marry him.
Lily hears about the stock market at the Bellomont and
decides that she would like to get involved in investment. She asks
Gus Trenor to invest her small sum of money for her, and he readily assents
because he is secretly attracted to Lily and wants her to spend
time with him. The investments pay off, and as Lily begins to make
money from Wall Street, she begins to spend lavishly. Later, to her
horror, Trenor tries to proposition her, and she learns that he
has not been investing her money—of which there is none—but rather his
own; he has been giving her his profits. He says that she may pay him
back by spending time with him, but Lily withdraws quickly from
his presence and resolves that she will somehow pay him back, although
she does not know how.
Lily takes a sudden vacation to the Mediterranean with
George and Bertha Dorset and the young Ned Silverton, but she soon
learns that she is being brought along to distract George while
Bertha has an affair with Ned. When Lily begins to associate with
European royalty, Bertha becomes jealous and kicks her off the cruise
yacht, starting a nasty rumor that Lily and George are having an
affair, which leads to Lily's expulsion from society. Lily returns
to America to learn that her aunt has died, leaving her with only
$10,000, which
is just enough to pay off her debt to Trenor, although Lily cannot
have the money until one year has elapsed. In the meantime, Lily tries
desperately to rebuild her reputation in society, but fails and moves
in with Gerty Farish, Selden's cousin. She takes up jobs as a secretary
and milliner (hat maker) before finally moving into a boarding house
and leading a meaningless life. She begins to take sleeping pills
to help her get away from her fear and loneliness until the day
when her check from her aunt's estate finally arrives. She pays
off all her debts with the money, then overdoses (perhaps intentionally)
on sleeping pills. The next day, Selden shows up at her apartment
with the intention of proposing marriage to her, only to find her
dead, with all her debts paid off.
