Jane's story is one of the quiet triumph of virtue and the power of the human heart over circumstance. Orphaned as a baby, young Jane Eyre was sent to live with her paternal Uncle Reed and his wife, at Gateshead Hall. Though her Uncle promised to raise Jane as one of his own, he soon died as well, and Jane was raised by her resentful Aunt. Preferring to spend her time among her own spoiled brood - Georgiana, John Jr and Eliza - Aunt Reed banished Jane to the indifferent care of servants, and was harsh and unforgiving of the child otherwise.

At the age of ten, Jane was locked overnight in the room in which her uncle had died, and went through a nervous fit. This was the first of a series of "supernatural" encounters that occur in Jane's story. Upon recovering, her aunt was urged to send the child to school by the family doctor, and the family's minister, the Reverend Mr. Brocklehurst, agreed to send Jane to Lowood Asylum, a charitable institute. Thus Jane escaped one prison only to find herself in another.

Lowood Asylum proved to be a trial for Jane, who, though she eventually found friends and a sound education, also encountered a character inquisition, and the chronic hunger and low-quality food and daily goods that were the lot of charity-pupils. She survived a typhoid plague at the school, which brought attention to the students' standard of living. Following the plague, the school was reformed along more lenient lines, and became "in its time, a truly useful institution". Jane remained at Lowood for another eight years, six as a pupil, and a further two as pupil-teacher. During that time, she developed her natural artistic talent, but remained, in her mind, as plain and poor as ever.

Wishing to improve her lot - to be "granted a new servitude" since she cannot be her own mistress - Jane advertises for a post as a governess. She is taken on by Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper of Thornfield, a lonely, rambling estate where she will be governess to Adele,