The impoverished widow Mrs. Nickleby takes lodgings in the house of Miss La Creevy on the Strand, together with her adult children Nicholas and Kate. She asks her brother-in-law, the wealthy Ralph Nickleby, to help her son find employment. Nicholas is soon hired as an assistant at Mr. Squeers's Academy in Dotheboys Hall outside London. When he sees Mr. Squeers flogging the pupils, he tries to stop it, gets into a fight with the school master, and is fired. Back in London he finds his sister Kate being insulted by her uncle's friends. When Nicholas objects, Ralph Nickleby orders him to leave London. Otherwise the uncle will stop providing for the mother and the sister. Nicholas joins Crummlers' Theatrical Company as an actor, and is a huge success as Romeo. He returns to London to stop the continuing sexual harassments of his sister. When he finds employment with the Cheeryble Brothers, the family isn't dependent on Ralph Nickleby anymore. Nicholas falls in love with Madeline Bray, who he saves from being forced into a hateful marriage with the miser Arthur Gride.