Maisie comes from a broken home. Her parents, Ida and Beale, have decided to split up, and due to the bitterness of their marriage, they resort to using Maisie to insult each other.
When they are given joint custody of Maisie, she realizes the extent of their hate towards each other and it begins to wear her down. He parents' behavior towards each other continues to worsen until their relationship is irreparably damaged. Despite the damage caused by her parents, Maisie’s character remains good. She is kind and gentle, the complete opposite of her parents.
Nonetheless, she begins to feel tired of the battle between her parents and forms a plan to run away. As she has two governesses, Mrs. Wix and a Miss Overmore (each hired by a different parent), she decides that they are the perfect candidates for her escape. Additionally, her mother’s new partner, Sir Claude, is also a good stepfather to Maisie and she begins to seem him as a good parent.
However, Miss Overmore and Beale decide to get married, thereby giving Maisie a stepmother. Soon, this marriage begins to have problems, too. Then, Miss Overmore and Sir Claude begin an affair, further complicating the dynamic, and thereby morally compromising all of the pairs of possible parents, as currently arranged.
Sir Claude and Miss Overmore urge Maisie to live with them as they move away to France, and Maisie, longing for a true family, decides to go. However, this incurs the disapproval of Mrs. Wix, and soon Maisie realizes that true happiness lies within the one person who has always been there for her—Mrs. Wix. At the end of the novel, she goes to live with Mrs. Wix.
