The book is an account of the amatory adventures of a young man growing to become an adult in a rural village. Although the place and time are imaginary, it is an idealistic and fanciful impression of what life would have been in the rural England of several centuries ago. The point of view occasionally switches to the thoughts and feelings of the women with which he was involved. His escapades range between the odd , the humorous, and the ridiculous, but are always sensual. It begins with his childhood as an indentured farm worker, and follows him to his independence , when he moves into his own home in the heart of the village.