Tempestuous Eustacia Vye spends her days dreaming of passionate love and the escape it may bring from the small community of Egdon Heath. Upon hearing that Clym Yeobright is to return from Paris, she sets her heart on marrying him, believing that through him she can leave rural life and find fulfillment elsewhere. However, she is to be disappointed, for Clym has dreams of his own, and they have little in common with Eustacia's. Their unhappy marriage causes havoc in the lives of those close to them, particularly Damon Wildeve, Eustacia's former lover, Clym's mother, and his cousin Thomasin. The Return of the Native illustrates the tragic potential of romantic illusion and how its protagonists fail to recognize their opportunities to control their own destinies.