The story of Catherine Sloper, a young heiress who is wooed by Morris Townsend, a handsome gentleman who is more interested in Catherine's inheritance than he is in her. When the two get engaged against the wishes of her stubborn father, Catherine must make a choice between the only man she will ever love and the wealth that she will inherit. Named for the upscale area of New York in which the novel is set, Washington Square is a classic examination of social class in mid-nineteenth-century New York.