Fullerton is a village in Wiltshire nine miles from Salisbury. Mr. Allen is the principle landowner in the area, and Richard Morland is the clergyman of the parish. Besides the Allens and the Morlands, other residents of the village include the Skinners and the Parrys.
James Morland returns to the village to ask his father's consent to marry Isabella Thorpe, which is granted, and John Thorpe intends to go there too to ask for his consent to marry Catherine Morland before she rejects him; however, after the Thorpes discover the Morlands are not as wealthy as they believed, Isabella breaks off her engagement. In revenge John Thorpe tells General Tilney that Catherine Morland is a fortune-hunter, and the general forces Catherine to leave Northanger Abbey, where she has been staying, and return to Fullerton.
Henry Tilney follows Catherine to Fullerton, where he declares his intention to marry her; however, without his father's consent, the Morlands will not allow her to marry and she must stay in Fullerton until (within the year) General Tilney is persuaded to give his consent.