A narrative of passionate conflicts in the burgeoning urban America of the 19th century. The story of Catherine Sloper, her stern father, and her fortune-hunting fiancé is a clash of predatory males who vie for power through both traditional and unconventional channels.

Catherine Sloper's attitude is that of the courageous woman who, in fighting to assert her difference outside the established male norms, is crushed. Washington Square, the backdrop against which the novel unfolds, is a pre-cataclysmic place where innocence is tested: a place where the petty spirit of Dr. Sloper, the provincialism of Mrs. Penniman, and the guiltlessly neutral stance of Mrs. Almond clash with the innocence of the ever-present Miss Slopers.

In this novel, the mature Henry James develops for the first time all those techniques of fiction that established him as one of the greatest craftsmen of the genre.