Milly Theale is as fabulously rich, young and alone in the world as a fairytale princess. Suffering (we gradually realize) from a grave illness, she arrives in Europe with her companion, Mrs. Stringham, willing to be captivated and eager for happiness. In a corner of London drawing-room society, she meets the vibrantly dazzling Kate Croy, and is introduced to Merton Densher, an attractive journalist who, for expediency’s sake, would fall in love with her if he could…