Northanger Abbey is the light-hearted account of a young girl's first excursion into fashionable society. Catherine Morland is taken to Bath where, among a crowd of new acquaintances, she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to stay at their family home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine, a devotee of 'horrid' Gothic novels, fervently hopes that the Abbey will match the haunted ruins conjured up in her imagination.

While poking fun at popular fiction, Catherine's story also exposes the difference between illusion and reality, and shows how her artless approach to people attracts true friendship and love.