Dr Tertius Lydgate is put in charge of the fever hospital in Middlemarch. Dorothea Brooke marries ageing scholar Edward Casaubon and they honeymoon in Rome.

Dorothea is having an uneasy honeymoon in Rome, when Casaubon's restless young cousin Will Ladislaw calls on them. Dr Lydgate discovers he has enemies.

Fred Vincy is anxious to know to whom Featherstone will leave his fortune. Casaubon is furious when Ladislaw visits Dorothea. Lydgate and Rosamond's wedding goes ahead.