On June 20, 1815, rumors of Wellington's victory in what history would come to call the Battle of Waterloo reach London. Among the townspeople celebrating, first the rumor and then the confirmation of victory, are Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy (and their son, Fitzy) and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bingley, who live a few blocks apart in Mayfair in London. The news became bleak for the families, however, when they soon received a dispatch that Captain George Wickham had been valiantly killed in battle. His pregnant widow, Lydia, and sister-in-law, Kitty (or Catherine), will come to London to be with their families, joined by their parents who come down from Longbourn. The remaining sister, Mary, will remain in northern England near the Scottish border with her husband, a vicar.

This begins Becoming Catherine Bennet. We soon learn, however, two great secrets. One, concerning Darcy and his money, is soon known throughout London, Derbyshire, and wherever a member of London society resides. The other, concerning our heroine, Catherine, will only be revealed to a handful, those who need to know all or part of the truth. These individuals include Elizabeth (though not as yet Jane), and the three who were freed by the death in 1813 of Lady Catherine de Bourgh: Charlotte Collins, William Collins, and Anne de Bourgh.