Housemaid Gwen Dawson is discovered to have a typewriter hidden in her room. She has been taking a correspondence course to become a secretary, an ambition that faces harsh skepticism from the older staff, particularly O'Brien and Mr. Carson .

A subplot features a power struggle between the Dowager Countess Violet and Isobel Crawley over the village flower show, where Violet’s long-standing winning streak is finally challenged.

The tension between Mary and Edith intensifies as Edith attempts to flirt with Matthew, who remains largely uninterested in her. Downstairs: Ambition and Pain

Cora Crawley attempts to match Mary with the eligible Evelyn Napier , who arrives for a hunt accompanied by his friend, the dashing Turkish attaché Kemal Pamuk .