Get Howards End straight once, then move.

The novel opens with Helen Schlegel writing to her sister Margaret from Howards End, a country house where she is visiting the Wilcox family. She has fallen for the younger son, Paul. By the next day the engagement is off, since Paul panics and Helen sees how little they share. The embarrassment lingers. It leaves the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes aware of each other and wary.

Years later the Wilcoxes rent a flat across from the Schlegels' London house. Margaret becomes close to Ruth Wilcox, who is frail and gentle and deeply tied to Howards End. Ruth dies soon after. Her family finds a pencilled note leaving the house to Margaret. They agree it is absurd and burn it. Henry Wilcox, Ruth's husband, never mentions it, and Margaret learns of it only years later.

Meanwhile the Schlegels meet Leonard Bast at a concert, where Helen takes his umbrella by mistake. Leonard is a poorly paid clerk who married beneath what he thinks he deserves. He reads and walks at night, hoping to reach a better life. The sisters take an interest in him. Margaret hears from Henry that Leonard's insurance firm is in trouble, and the Schlegels pass the warning on. Leonard quits and takes a worse job, and soon he and his wife Jacky are close to starving.

Margaret and Henry grow closer after the Wilcoxes lose their London lease and Margaret helps Ruth's family. Henry proposes and Margaret accepts. She hopes to bring out his decent side and teach him to look beyond money and efficiency. Helen is suspicious. At Evie Wilcox's wedding, Helen arrives with the Basts, who are hungry and ruined, and demands that Henry help. Then Jacky recognizes Henry. They had an affair years ago in Cyprus. Helen sees this as proof of his hypocrisy.

Margaret takes the news with astonishing calm. She forgives Henry, since she sees his failing as ordinary, and still marries him. Helen disappears abroad for months. When Margaret finds her at last, Helen is pregnant. The father is Leonard, who comforted her in a moment of grief and guilt. Helen wants one night alone at Howards End, where the Schlegel furniture is stored. Henry refuses to allow it, which exposes his double standard. He condemned the idea of forgiving a woman's lapse though he committed his own.

Margaret defies him and goes with Helen to the house. Leonard, shaken, appears there to confess and beg forgiveness. Charles Wilcox arrives with a sword and strikes him. Leonard has a weak heart and dies. Charles is charged with manslaughter and sentenced to prison. The family breaks.