Catherine Morland, an imaginative seventeen-year-old, finds her expectations of high society and romantic intrigue challenged when she visits the mysterious Northanger Abbey. Catherine seeks to navigate the social rituals of Bath and the daunting expectations of the Tilney family while struggling to distinguish between the tropes of the Gothic novels she consumes and the reality of her own life. Her primary opposition stems from her own overactive imagination and the rigid social hierarchies that govern marriage and reputation in the early nineteenth century. The narrative employs a third-person omniscient perspective, frequently utilizing irony to comment on the protagonist's naivety and the societal conventions of the era.

Readers and critics frequently highlight the sharp wit and satirical edge that define this work. Discussion often centers on the effectiveness of the parody, particularly how the author subverts the expectations of the Gothic genre to ground the story in social realism. Many note the balance between the lighthearted tone and the underlying critique of the marriage market. The protagonist's growth from an impressionable reader to a more grounded individual remains a central point of analysis for those examining the author's development of character. The narrative pacing is often praised for its consistency and the clever way it mirrors the protagonist's own evolving understanding of her surroundings.