The narrator recounts Anne’s history with navy man Captain Frederick Wentworth, Mrs. Croft’s younger brother and a relative of a nearby curate. In 1806, when Anne was 19, Captain Wentworth visited the curate and soon met Anne. They fell in love and became privately engaged. Sir Walter and Elizabeth disapproved of the match, as Wentworth was socially inferior to Anne and had little money. Lady Russell, also believing Wentworth to be an unsuitable match, persuaded Anne “to believe the engagement a wrong thing” (27) and to break the engagement. Anne never found love again, although the Elliots’ neighbor, Charles Musgrove, once proposed to her. Charles married Anne’s younger sister, Mary, when she refused him. Anne continued to feel regret and sadness over the broken engagement.

Now 27 years old, Anne better understands what happened between herself and Captain Wentworth. “She [does] not blame Lady Russell” (29) but knows that Lady Russell’s motives for persuasion were prejudiced and prioritized the family’s social status over Anne’s happiness. Through the years, she has followed Captain Wentworth’s distinguished military career in the newspapers. Anne anxiously awaits the day when her social circle must overlap with Captain Wentworth's again, as the Elliots, Musgroves, and now the Crofts will live so close to each other that formal visits of acquaintance will be required.