An unwanted child

Jane Eyre is an orphan raised by her cold aunt, Mrs Reed, at Gateshead Hall in England. Her cousin John bullies her, and after she fights back, she is locked in the frightening red room where her uncle died.

Mrs Reed sends her to Lowood, a harsh charity school run by the hypocritical Mr Brocklehurst. There Jane finds kindness in the teacher Miss Temple and in her gentle friend Helen Burns, who dies of illness. Jane stays on, eventually becoming a teacher herself.