Within the first 10 minutes of this 2008 MASTERPIECE adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, we learn much about the plot, characters, and meaning of the novel. After the death of Henry Dashwood, his widow and their three daughters—Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret—are forced to see their grand home, Norland Park, taken over by Henry’s son by a former marriage, John, and his wife, Fanny. As family members share an elegant dinner, the dialogue helps to establish not only each character’s distinct personality, but also the mood, tone, and trajectory of the story.