The Mill on the Floss centers on the childhood and young adulthood of Maggie and Tom Tulliver, two siblings growing up in the fictional town of St. Ogg’s, Lincolnshire, England. The unnamed narrator, whose gender is never specified, dreams of Dorlcote Mill, the Tulliver family’s ancestral home, and sees a little girl playing outside. The little girl, it is later revealed, is Maggie Tulliver. Inside the house, Mr. Tulliver and Mrs. Tulliver are discussing Tom’s education. Mr. Tulliver admits that he never had much education himself, but wants to send Tom to school in the hopes that his son will go into business. On the recommendation of a family friend, Mr. Riley, decides to send Tom to study with Mr. Stelling, an Oxford-educated minister.