Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story, is a satire of undergraduate life at Oxford. Zuleika is a devastatingly attractive young woman of the Edwardian era, a true femme fatale, who is a prestidigitator by profession, formerly a governess. Zuleika's current occupation has made her something of a small-time celebrity and she manages to gain entrance to the privileged, all-male domain of Oxford University because her grandfather is the Warden of Judas College. There, she falls in love for the first time in her life with the Duke of Dorset, a snobbish, emotionally detached student who is forced to admit that she too is his first love, impulsively proposing to her. As she feels that she cannot love anyone unless he is impervious to her charms, however, she rejects all her suitors, doing the same with the astonished Duke.
The Duke decides that he will commit suicide to symbolize his passion for Zuleika, but similar idea comes to mind of all Zuleika's suitors.