[2] The novel tells the story of Robert Merivel, who begins the book as a medical student, studying alongside his serious, practical friend John Pearce.

Merivel is given an estate named Bidnold in Norfolk, and Celia is installed in a house in Kew, where the King can visit her secretly.

In Norfolk, Merivel abandons the practice of medicine and lives a luxurious life in which he tries to take up painting with the help of an ambitious painter named Elias Finn, and indulges in failed attempts to learn the oboe.

However, he develops a romantic connection with a mentally ill patient named Katherine, whom he eventually sleeps with, and impregnates.

During this time, Merivel regains some of his fortune by selling John Pearce's recipe for a plague restorative, and he reunites with Elias Finn, who has fallen from the King's favor.

During the Great Fire of London in 1666, Merivel rescues an elderly woman from a burning house, which stirs memories of his own mother dying in similar circumstances when others were unable to help her.