Set in the 1870s, The Buccaneers is about five wealthy American girls denied entry into New York Society because their parents' money is too new. At the suggestion of their clever governess, the girls sail to London, where they marry lords, earls, and dukes who find their beauty charming; and their wealth extremely useful. Marion Mainwaring masterfully took on the task of completion, taking her cue from Wharton's own synopsis. The richly engaging central story of Nan St. George and Guy Thwarte, an American heiress and an English aristocrat, whose love breaks the rules of both their societies, is something any Wharton fan will celebrate and any romantic reader will love.