A vibrant portrait of Edwardian England, Howards End examines personal relationships and conflicting values. The Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, and their brother, Tibby, place their values in civilized living, music, literature, and conversation with their friends. The Wilcoxes, Henry and his children Charles, Paul, and Evie, are concerned with the business side of life and distrust emotions and imagination.

Howards End, a charming country house in Hertfordshire that belonged to Henry Wilcox's first wife, becomes the object of an inheritance dispute between the Wilcox family and the Schlegel sisters. Through romantic entanglements, disappearing wills, and sudden tragedy, the conflict over the house emerges as a symbolic struggle for England's very future.