The story is narrated by Dr Overton, Ernest Pontifax's godfather. We first meet Ernest as Dr Overton is trying to trace his heritage from the earlier generations of the Pontifax family. He begins the story in the late eighteenth century, as Ernest's relationship with his parents, Christina and Theobald Pontifax, is deteriorating. Theobald is a minister, not because he feels that it is his calling, but because he was pressured into it by Christina's father, who is a minister himself and therefore views it as the only profession that is acceptable for the husband of his beloved daughter.
Theobald and Christina are domineering, judgmental and raging hypocrites. They are extremely harsh in their judgement of Ernest, and consequently their relationship is intrinsically antagonistic. Despite the fact they are family, the three Pontifaxes don't like each other very much. Ernest is not alone in feeling that his parents are too hard on him; his aunt, Alethea, is also aware of the antagonistic nature of the relationship and fully intends to step in and counteract the negative effect his parents are having but she passes away before she is able to do so. She does enable his escape from his parents' governance, though, as before she dies she gives over a large amount of money to Overton, with the agreement being that as soon as Ernest reaches his twenty eighth birthday the money will be his.
Ernest's passage through adolescence and into adulthood sees him searching for a path in life. His search reflects the mood of the country at the time. He does not really relate to one religious theology more than another, much like Britain at the time, riddled with controversy within the Church of England. Ernest is a waverer when it comes to theological beliefs and is therefore the perfect "mark" for the evangelists he encounters for the first time when he goes up to university. Despite his difficult relationship with his father he follows in his footsteps and goes into the clergy. He develops a personal mission to deepen his faith by going amongst the poor. This proves to be a disaster. Instead of evangelizing them, his belief in the Bible is severely damaged by one of the poor he has decided to live among. He is also starting to unravel in his morality, assaulting a woman because he believes she is "that kind of girl", but it turns out that his judgement of her has been wrong. He is imprisoned. He is disowned by his parents. His mental and physical health go downhill rapidly.
Ernest begins to rebuild himself and discovers that he has a talent for tailoring whilst incarcerated. He enjoys it, and decides that once he is released from prison he will pursue it as a career. He gets married; his bride is a young housemaid named Ellen who used to work for his parents. Ellen and Ernest seem to make a good team. They have two children together and also give birth to a fledgling business in the second hand clothing industry. For a while, things seem rosy, but Ernest makes a shocking discovery, learning that his wife is actually a bigamist. She also has an alcohol addiction. As everything is unraveling, Dr Overton inserts himself back into Ernest's life. He pays Ellen to leave. He gives Ernest a job. Ernest slowly starts to get back on his feet.
As his Aunt Alathea intended, Ernest comes into his money when he reaches his twenty eighth birthday. His relationship with his parents is still antagonistic, although now that he is an adult the balance of power has shifted slightly. Ernest eventually becomes an author but all of his output is controversial and always on the side of dubious morality.
