Everyone knew that little Maggie Tulliver's world revolved around her elder brother, Tom. He could do no wrong and no one else's-not even her beloved father's-opinion mattered. And though Tom could not completely understand his free-spirited sister, he adored her. But time changes everything for the Tullivers. Deep in debt, the Tullivers lose their flour mill on the River Flossto the cruel Mr Wakem. Their financial downfall compels Tom and Maggie to grow up before time and the once-close siblings drift apart as adulthood brings with it the trappings of propriety, societal rules and morality.

Both Tom and Maggie are forced to take decisions that lead to a series of events that irrevocably alter not just their lives, but also the fates of those around them. George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss brings out the complexities of family relationships and individual choices in the face of adversity, while addressing a mix of various themes that were pertinent to19th-century England.