Frank Fenwick, the vicar of the title and a likeable and energetic clergyman, sets out to prove a young man's innocence in a murder and to prevent the eviction of a prostitute from her home. Choosing a prostitute as a central female character, Trollope addresses a topical question of his
time: how women should maintain due and proper regard for themselves without adopting either the manners of a prostitute or the political excesses of a feminist.