Pip is a poor orphan, a boy with "no expectations" being raised by his unkind sister and her husband in a small home on the marshes of Kent. But when Pip meets the bizarre Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward, Estella, he starts to yearn for a life as a gentleman. However, Pip will discover that wealth and honesty do not go hand in hand, and that kindness can be found in the most surprising places.

A love story, a mystery, and a sharp critique of upper-class English society, Great Expectations remains one of Dickens's best-regarded works.