Emma recap

Emma Woodhouse, wealthy and confident in her judgment, befriends Harriet Smith and tries to raise her socially. She persuades Harriet to refuse the farmer Robert Martin and imagines that Mr Elton loves her, only to discover that Elton wants Emma herself. Emma next entertains a flirtation with Frank Churchill while disliking the reserved Jane Fairfax. Her guesses repeatedly mislead her: Frank and Jane are secretly engaged, and his attentions to Emma disguise their relationship. After Emma cruelly jokes at Miss Bates's expense, Mr Knightley's rebuke forces her to confront her selfishness. Harriet's admission that she loves Knightley finally reveals Emma's own love for him. Knightley proposes to Emma, while Harriet accepts a renewed proposal from Robert Martin. Frank and Jane are reconciled and prepare to marry. Knightley moves to Hartfield so Emma need not abandon her anxious father, and Emma's marriage rests on greater humility and self-knowledge.

Emma Woodhouse's former governess, Miss Taylor, marries Mr Weston, leaving Emma and her anxious father alone at Hartfield. Emma claims credit for the match and decides she has a talent for matchmaking, though Mr Knightley warns her against interfering. She befriends Harriet Smith, a pretty boarder of uncertain parentage, and convinces herself that Harriet must be the unacknowledged daughter of a gentleman. When the respectable farmer Robert Martin proposes to Harriet, Emma guides her toward refusal because she considers him socially beneath her. Emma instead imagines a match between Harriet and the local vicar, Mr Elton. She encourages Harriet to interpret his attentions, charitable riddle, and eagerness for company as signs of love.

Emma continues constructing evidence that Mr Elton loves Harriet, although his compliments and attentions are actually directed toward Emma. Mr Knightley learns of Robert Martin's rejection and angrily tells Emma that Harriet has refused an excellent match on her advice. At Christmas, Harriet is ill and cannot join a party at the Westons'. On the carriage ride home, Elton proposes passionately to Emma and dismisses the idea of marrying Harriet as absurd. Emma refuses him and realizes that her vanity caused her to misread everything. Elton leaves Highbury. Emma must tell Harriet the truth and accepts some blame, but she still does not fully question her habit of arranging other people's futures.

Jane Fairfax returns to stay with Miss Bates. Beautiful, reserved, and accomplished, she faces eventual employment as a governess because she has no fortune. Emma remains cool toward her and invents a theory that Jane once loved her friend's married brother-in-law. Frank Churchill finally visits Highbury and quickly charms Emma. He encourages her guesses about Jane and helps plan a ball, while paying conspicuous attention to Emma. A pianoforte arrives anonymously for Jane, feeding speculation about a secret admirer. Emma enjoys Frank's company and briefly thinks she may be in love, though her feelings lack depth. Frank abruptly leaves when his demanding aunt summons him, and the planned ball is postponed.

Mr Elton returns with his bride, Augusta, whose vanity and officiousness quickly irritate Emma. Mrs Elton decides to patronize Jane and presses her to accept a governess position. Frank returns, and the Westons' ball is finally held. Mr Elton pointedly refuses to dance with Harriet, humiliating her, until Mr Knightley asks her to dance. Soon afterward Frank rescues Harriet from a group of troublesome children. Harriet declares that she has put aside her former attachment and now admires a man socially above her. Emma assumes she means Frank and again encourages hope without asking for a name. At the same time, Frank's teasing conduct toward Jane and Emma continues to conceal more than Emma understands.

At an outing to Box Hill, the party is strained and listless. Urged by Frank to entertain everyone, Emma makes a cutting joke at Miss Bates's expense. Mr Knightley privately rebukes her for humiliating a poor, dependent woman who has always treated her kindly. Ashamed, Emma visits Miss Bates the next morning to make amends. Jane, meanwhile, has accepted a governess position and seems distressed; Frank leaves suddenly after an argument. News then arrives that Mrs Churchill has died. With her opposition removed, Frank can disclose that he and Jane have long been secretly engaged. Their quarrels, the anonymous piano, and Frank's flirtation with Emma were all connected to hiding the engagement. Emma is startled by her errors but realizes she does not love Frank.

Harriet tells Emma that her new hope is not Frank Churchill but Mr Knightley. Faced with the possibility of losing him, Emma finally recognizes her own love. Knightley returns to comfort her, believing she is hurt by Frank's engagement, and confesses that he loves her. Emma accepts his proposal. She worries about Harriet and about leaving her father, so Knightley offers to move into Hartfield. Harriet spends time away with Emma's sister, reconnects with Robert Martin, and accepts his renewed proposal; Emma also learns that Harriet's father is a respectable tradesman, not a hidden aristocrat. Frank and Jane reconcile and plan their marriage. After a poultry theft makes Mr Woodhouse more receptive to Knightley's presence, Emma and Knightley marry, and Emma enters the match with a more honest view of her own limitations.

Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax's secret engagement becomes public after Mrs Churchill dies, freeing Frank from dependence on her approval. Emma recognizes how thoroughly she misread their conduct and is relieved to discover that she never loved Frank. Harriet then reveals that the man she hopes to marry is Mr Knightley. This shocks Emma into realizing that she loves Knightley herself. Knightley, believing Emma distressed over Frank, comes to comfort her and instead proposes; she accepts. Harriet briefly withdraws, then reconciles with Emma after Robert Martin proposes again and she accepts him. Jane and Frank prepare to marry once family arrangements permit. Because Mr Woodhouse cannot bear Emma's departure, Knightley agrees to live at Hartfield after their marriage. A local poultry theft helps persuade Mr Woodhouse that another man in the house is desirable. Emma and Knightley marry, with their equality and long knowledge of one another replacing Emma's earlier fantasies about directing other people's lives.