Jude Fawley abandons his long-held dream of becoming a scholar when he is deceived into marriage. Settling for a trade as a stonemason, he lives in the shadow of the great university at Christminster where he had hoped to study - and there he falls in love with Sue Bridehead, his cousin. When she learns he is married, Sue turns away, despite her feelings for Jude, and marries Richard Phillotson, the schoolmaster who inspired Jude's passion for learning. But the attraction between Jude and Sue proves greater than convention, and their scandalous union will lead to tragedy of unimaginable proportions. A stark and uncompromising study of the darker side of fate, free will, and human nature.