It is set in England. There have been several theatrical and cinematic adaptations of the book.



British soldiers find her and place her in the care of an English clergyman, whose children mock her by calling her "Mistress Mary, exceedingly contrary." Her father's sister Lilias marries Archibald Craven, and she is transported to England to live with him. The few surviving servants escape the house without Mary after a cholera pandemic kills Mary's parents.



Mary Lennox is a neglected and unwanted 10-year-old girl born in British India to wealthy British parents who never desired her and made an attempt to ignore her at the beginning of the twentieth century. She is mostly cared for by native servants, who allow her to become spoiled, demanding, and egotistical.