When Helen Schlegel stayed with Paul Wilcox in Edwardian England, she was at Howards End, the home of the Holcend family. . The Schlegel family was an intellectual family of the Anglo-German bourgeoisie, while the Wilcox family was conservative and wealthy, spoken by the stubborn businessman Henry. Helen and Paul soon decided to get engaged, but Helen had already sent a telegram to inform her sister Margaret and there was an uproar when Aunt Julie showed up and caused the scene.
A few months later, when the Wilcox family passed through a flat across the street from London's Schlegels, Margaret resumed an acquaintance with Ruth Wilcox, whom she had briefly met before. Ruth is of Yeoman descent from England, and it is through her family that Wilcoxes owns her beloved Howards End estate.
The two women became good friends over the next few months, even as Mrs Wilcox's health declined. Ruth heard that the lease on the Schlegels house was about to expire and bequeathed it to Margaret (Howards End). This came as a shock to Wilcox, who refused to believe that Ruth was in her "normal mind," or possibly planning to send her home to a relative stranger. The Wilcox family burns Ruth's bequeathed paper and decides to ignore it entirely.
Ruth's widower, Henry Wilcox, begins to attract Margaret and agrees to assist her in finding a new home. Eventually, he proposed marriage, and Margaret accepted.
Some time before that, Schlegels befriends Leonard Bast, a self-improving young clerk who lives with Jacky, a woman of questionable ancestry. Both sisters thought Leonard was brilliant, and he praised his intellectual curiosity and desire to improve his life. The sisters pass on Henry's advice that Leonard must resign because the insurance company he works for is said to be going bankrupt. Leonard took the advice and resigned, but he had to take a much lower-paying job, and he ended up out of the job altogether due to shrinking operations. Helen later angrily learned that Henry's suggestion was wrong. Leonard was doing well with his first employer, but will not hire him again.
A few months later, Henry and Margaret married their daughter Evie at his Shropshire estate. When Helen arrives with the Beast, Margaret is shocked to find herself living in poverty. Considering Henry responsible for their plight, Helen asks him to help them. However, Jacky is drunk at the reception, and when she sees Henry, she recognizes and reveals that he was his lover years ago. Henry was embarrassed and ashamed that his adultery had been uncovered in front of Margaret, but she forgave him and agreed to send him away. After the wedding, Helen, disturbed by Margaret's decision to marry a man she hates, prepares to leave Germany, but is not happy with it before giving in to Leonard having sex with him on the way out .
Helen asked her donated brother Tibby to hand over more than £5,000 of her own money to Leonard in Germany. Leonard returned the uncashed check, refusing to accept the money by proudly.
Margaret and Henry married, and the two arranged for Howards End to be used as a depository for the property of Margaret and her siblings. For several months, Margaret had received only postcard letters from Helen, and he was concerned. Helen returned to England to visit Aunt Julie when she was ill, but avoided seeing Margaret or her family when she heard news of her aunt's recovery.
Fearing Helen's mental instability, Margaret lured her to Howards End to receive her fortune, only to propose to Henry and a doctor. However, she found out that Helen was pregnant. Helen insisted on returning to Germany to raise the children on her own, but asked for permission to spend the night at Howards End before leaving. When Margaret asked Henry, he stubbornly refused, and the couple had a big fight.
The next day, Leonard, still living impoverished in London with Jacky, headed to Howards End to visit Schlegels. When he arrived, he found the couple, and Henry's savage eldest son, Charles. Charles soon realised Leonard was the baby's father and began beating him for "shame on Helen".
In a fit of rage, Charles beat Leonard with his sword, and Leonard grabbed a bookshelf for support. The bookshelf collapsed on him, causing Leonard to suffer a heart attack and die.
Margaret told Henry that she was leaving him to help Helen raise the children, and Henry broke up, telling her that the police investigation would lead to murder.
A year later, Paul, Evie and Charles' wife Dolly gather at Howards End. Henry and Margaret are still together, living with Helen and her young son. Henry, who was in poor health, told the others that when Margaret died, Margaret would inherit the Howard estate and leave it to her nephew. Margaret didn't want Henry's money, which was to be distributed among his children. Dolly points to the irony of Margaret inheriting the house, revealing Mrs Wilcox's desperate desire to leave Margaret. Henry told Margaret that he did what he thought was right, but Margaret said nothing.
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