Mrs. de Winter was never actually named in the book but was the main character of the book. She married the rich Maxim de Winter and became the mistress of the famous Manderley. Everybody adored his former wife and de Winter does not feel she can fill her shoes. She eventually learns that Maxim really loves her. She even helps him through tough times.

 Maxim de Winter was the man of Manderley. He lived with a deep secret that kept him from his love. He was an older man who was very dignified and respected. He loved Manderley and would do anything to uphold its good name.

 Rebecca was the former Mrs. de Winter. She was an evil woman who played the role of a happily married woman perfectly. Maxim could not stand her deceiving any longer and it finally led to him killing her.

 Mrs. Danvers was Rebecca’s devoted maid. She hated de Winter because she was trying to take Rebecca’s place. She kept charge of Manderley and kept her room just as Rebecca had left it.

 Frank Crawley was Maxim’s right-hand man. He always stood up for both de Winter and Maxim. He gave de Winter the confidence she needed to fill in Rebecca’s shoes. he was a devoted friend.

 Mrs. Van Hopper was the woman who de Winter worked for when she met Maxim. Van Hopper was a very obnoxious woman. She told de Winter that marrying Maxim was the worst mistake ever.

 Beatrice Lacy was Maxim’s sister. She always told people exactly what she thought of them. She supported de Winter however and it was obvious she cared deeply fore her brother.

 Jack Favell was Rebecca’s cousin and lover. He felt that the verdict on Rebecca’s case was completely wrong and that Maxim had killed her. This was "proven" wrong and Favell was forced to drop the subject.

 Colonel Julyan was the officer over Rebecca’s trial. He was a friend of Maxim and was on his side.

 Jasper was a dog at Manderley. Even though at first even he wanted Rebecca he became a loyal friend to de Winter. He followed her everywhere. She did not feel the same without him by her side.

 Doctor Baker was the doctor who had seen Rebecca and diagnosed her with cancer. He even said that she might have killed herself because of this.

- Mrs. de Winter dreams of the times at Manderley.

- Maxim tries not to let it show when he remembers the lost Manderley.

- Mrs. de Winter remembers back to the days with Mrs. Van Hopper.

- They were staying in Monte Carlo.

- Mrs. Van Hopper that Maxim was in their hotel and she forced herself into an introduction to him.

- She forced him to talk about his home, Manderley, which made him seem very uneasy.

- She was called to an appointment and he was glad for the opportunity to get away.

- Later the lift-boy came with a note for Mrs. de Winter from Maxim it said he was sorry for being rude that afternoon.

- The next day Mrs. Van Hopper came down with the influenza and Mrs. de Winter did not have to stay with her until she was recovered.

- Mrs. de Winter ate lunch with Maxim and then he offered to drive her to do some sketches.

- It was too windy for sketching so they just drove around. Maxim came upon a place he knew from his past and seemed to forget de Winter was there.

- de Winter found a poetry book in the glovebox Maxim let her read it. The book was from Rebecca to Max.

- Rebecca was Maxim’s wife who had drowned at Manderley.

- de Winter and Maxim went for a drive every morning that Mrs. Van Hopper was ill.

- Mrs. Van Hopper was fully recovered and announced that they were going to leave for New York.

- de Winter rushed to see Maxim at his room to tell him she was leaving.

- He asked her to marry him and she agreed. Mrs. Van Hopper said it was the worst mistake de Winter would ever make.

- The newly weds arrived in Manderley in early May.

- de Winter was nervous about her arrival. Danvers had called the entire staff together to welcome them. From the beginning de Winters felt uncomfortable with Danvers.

- Maxim had the east wing remodeled to be their room Rebecca’s bedroom had been in the west wing.

- de Winter compared everything she did to what Rebecca had done.

- The next morning Maxim’s sister, Beatrice, her husband, Giles, and Frank Crawley came to lunch.

- Beatrice tells de Winter that Danvers adored Rebecca and resented her for being there.

- When the people finally left Maxim took de Winter for a walk. He showed her the Happy Valley.

- Jasper, the dog, was no where to be found. de Winter climbed over the rocks to get the dog despite Maxim asking her not to. This led to another cove but this had a buoy.

boat house had furniture so it appeared someone had once lived there. Ben, an idiot, talked to de Winter.

- Maxim came down they walked back to the house. de Winter had been wearing Rebecca’s old raincoat. The handkerchief in the pocket smelled like the Happy Valley, like Rebecca.

- de Winter had to make several social calls. The bishop’s wife inquired about the newly weds having a fancy dress ball.

- She walked with Frank up the driveway to Manderley.

- de Winter found out that the boat-house at the cove was Rebecca’s cottage. Rebecca’s boat had capsized, no one even knew she was out in the boat. She had drowned while trying to swim to shore. Her body was found two months later.

- de Winter tells Frank how she feels, that everybody compared her to Rebecca.

- He told her it was not true.

- Clarice became de Winter’s new maid.

- Everything de Winter did she was reminded of Rebecca.

- Beatrice sent de Winter books about art and painting for her wedding present.

- While trying to put these in the morning room, de Winter broke the china cupid that was on her desk.

- She told Maxim how she felt about Danvers and her awkwardness in Manderley.

- Maxim did not understand.

- He had to go to London on business leaving de Winter alone in Manderley.

- de Winter went for a walk and found Ben in Rebecca’s cottage. He talked crazily of things she knew nothing about. She let him keep some string for fishing and he gave her some shells as a present.

- When she returned to Manderley she noticed a man standing by the window in the west wing. The man was not supposed to be there, but Danvers had invited him while Maxim was out of town. The man was Jack Favell.

- de Winter went to the west wing. The bedroom was fully furnished as if still in use. Danvers kept the room just how it had been left as though Rebecca would return at any moment.

- Danvers gave her the grand tour while telling her about Rebecca.

- She said Maxim did not use the room because you could hear the sea.

- Danvers could still feel Rebecca’s presence.

- The next morning Beatrice invited de Winter to go and meet Gran. At first the old woman was pleasant and understood who de Winter was but then she demanded to see Rebecca. Beatrice and de Winter left and returned home.

- Maxim was back from London. He was yelling at Danvers for having Jack Favell in the house. Danvers assumed that de Winter had told on her.

- One day they were invaded with visitors. Lady Cowan brought up having a fancy dress ball in honor of de Winter. It was settled the arrangements would be made.

- de Winter told Frank and Maxim that when they saw her in her costume they would get the surprise of their lives. Danvers suggested that she dress as the painting of Caroline de Winter. Of course it would be perfect.

- The day finally arrived. Everybody put on their costumes. The drummer announced her and everybody stared. Maxim was very mad and told her to go upstairs and change at once. de Winter was very upset. Danvers gave her a look of evil triumph.

- Beatrice told her that the dress is exactly what Rebecca had worn at the last fancy dress ball. Maxim thought she did it on purpose. They made up a story about the dressmakers sending the wrong costume and so de Winter wore an ordinary blue dress.

- de Winter stood by Maxim’s side the entire night even though they did not speak.

- After the ball de Winter went to bed. Maxim never came to bed. She thought that maybe Mrs. Van Hopper had been right, Maxim would never love her it would always be Rebecca.

- She told frank how she felt and he said he needed to talk to her but she did not want to see him.

- Danvers was in the west wing and de Winter went to talk to her about the incident.

- Danvers hated de Winter because she tried to take Rebecca’s place. She said that Maxim was not happy. She did not care about Maxim’s suffering. She said Maxim was jealous of the men that Rebecca had in her cottage.

- de Winter could not believe what she heard and was ready to jump out of the window to her death when she heard four explosions. A ship had gone ashore in the bay.

- Many people went to see the ship. The coast-guard sent a diver down to evaluate the damage.

- Captain Searle came to see Maxim. While the diver was down he found the boat belonging to Rebecca. Inside the boat he had found a body inside the cabin which was full of water from holes in the bottom. Rebecca was supposed to be sailing alone.

- Maxim forgave de Winter for the incident the night before. Maxim told de Winter that the body in the cabin was Rebecca and the woman in the crypt was not. He had killed Rebecca.

- Maxim did not love Rebecca, he hated her. She was an evil woman. They had an agreement she would run his beloved Manderley and people would think they were the happiest couple on earth and he would not divorce her. He would never let Manderley be thought of badly.

- Everyone, even the servants believed their act. She made Manderley what it was. She has a flat in London and what she did there did not matter because they did not concern Manderley. She began to ask her London friends down to Manderley. She even tried to get Frank and Giles into bed.

- Jack Favell, her cousin, used to come down to the cottage. Rebecca began to look old. Rebecca went to London that night but returned before expected. She was down at the cottage. Maxim took a gun just to frighten the two but Rebecca was there by herself. She looked very ill. He knew he could not divorce her he had no proof against her. Rebecca told Maxim she was pregnant. When he killed her she was smiling.

- He cleaned up the blood with seawater and carried her to the boat. He drove a spike into the planks so water would come in. He left Rebecca lying on the floor and fastened the scuttles. The boat sank.

- The coast guard would raise the boat and identify Rebecca’s body. Maxim would say that when he identified the other body it was a mistake. The people would think she had gone down for something and got locked in.

- Reporters began to call.

- The next day Maxim went with the people to raise the boat. de Winter made Danvers change the menu.

- Colonel Julyan and Frank came to dinner. The problem was that Maxim had identified the first body. Maxim would have to appear in an inquest.

- Frank was worried about the coroner, Horridge, at the inquest. He was a stickler for details.

- The inquest was Tuesday. de Winter did not want to listen. She went in towards the end. Favell and Danvers were there.

- Tabb the boat-builder said that there was not a rock near the boat so someone had to drive the holes in the planks. They asked Maxim if he knew who had driven the holes in the planks. He said he did not know. They asked if Maxim and Rebecca’s relationship was happy and de Winter fainted.

- Frank took her home. Maxim returned home they called Rebecca’s death suicide.

- They had to bury Rebecca that night. While Maxim was away Favell came to see him so de Winter saw him.

- He was going to see that justice was done to Rebecca, she was not the sort to commit suicide.

- Favell also had a note from Rebecca from the day she died. It said she had something to tell him. It did not sound like a note from a person about to kill herself. Favell told Maxim for a few thousand dollars he would never speak of this again.

- Maxim called Julyan himself to come to Manderley to hear Favell’s evidence.

- Favell thought Rebecca was murdered by Maxim. Maxim told Julyan of Favell’s blackmail.

- Favell said he could even produce a witness, Ben. Ben said he had never seen Favell before. He also said he had not seen the boat sink.

- They called Danvers down. She said Rebecca did not love Favell. She produced Rebecca’s engagement diary and they found out she had seen a Baker on the day of her death. The only thing Rebecca was scared of was getting old or dying of illness.

- Baker was a retired doctor in London. The thing Rebecca had to tell Favell had to be the results of the doctor’s visit.. They would visit Baker the next day.

- Frank would stay behind and Favell would follow in his car. They came upon the Baker house at six o’clock.

- Baker did not remember Rebecca but at the time specified a Danvers was in his appointment book. He said that Rebecca had cancer and would have died in four months. This was the motive for Rebecca’s suicide.

- Julyan told favell to go home before he charged him with blackmail.

- The couple let Julyan off at his sister’s house and began home. They stopped for dinner and reported to Frank. He said that everything was okay except no one had seen Danvers they thought she had left.

- Maxim wanted to drive through the night to Manderley. He felt something was wrong. As they came upon Manderley de Winter thought she saw the northern lights but it was Manderley in flames.