The Fortunes And Misfortunes Of Moll Flanders

Baby Moll is sold several times ending up with gypsies. Adopted by a family whose eldest son seduces her, then she marries his brother. When he dies, she heads to London, remarries, and helps an irresponsible heir squander his fortune.

Moll travels to Chatham and becomes Mrs Flanders, a rich widow. She marries a Virginian sea captain, sails to the colonies and meets her new mother-in-law. They have two children, but then Moll discovers that his mother is her mother too. She returns to England, travels to Lancashire and is introduced into society as Lady Flanders.

Moll falls for a Roman Catholic and converts before marrying him. Travelling to his estate in Ireland, she finds her husband's "sister" was paid to find him a rich wife, as he is as broke as her. They part and she travels back to London, but the coach is robbed by a highway man. A fellow passenger offers to stand guard in her room for protection and becomes for financial adviser as well as her lover. Learning that his wife is a whore, she persuades him to divorce her so that they can marry. When his bank fails and the shock kills him, Moll must flee the bailiffs again and now turns to theft.

Moll becomes used to her new life, until an encounter with a young girl upsets her. Her landlady suggest she team up with another girl and the pair have success as thieves and lovers, until Lucy is caught and hung. A brief venture into prostitution leads to her robbing a drunken judge, but shortly after she is caught stealing a bolt of cloth and jailed. Under sentence of death, she meets two of her former lovers and strikes a deal for transportation to Virginia.