Sense and Sensibility is the classic first novel by Jane Austen about the lives of the sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. After the death of the sisters' father, the estate passes to their older half-brother named John. The sisters are left in reduced circumstances and they have to move to a new home, a cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The story describes how the two Dashwood sisters, who have contrasting temperaments, both have to find a balance between sense and sensibility in life and love.