Plot outline

Humbert Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to New Hampshire, America for a teaching position. Falling in love with Dolores Haze, the flirtatious 14 year-old (age 12 in Nabokov's novel) daughter of his widowed landlady, Charlotte Haze, he marries Charlotte for the sake of access to her daughter. Charlotte's untimely death frees Humbert to pursue his relationship with Dolores, whom he nicknames 'Lolita'. However, Lolita's increasing boredom with Humbert, as well as a growing desire for independence, fires the tension between them. Humbert's affections are also rivaled by a more devious and experienced pedophile, the playwright Clare Quilty. Quilty's identity is unknown to Humbert, and when Lolita runs away with the playwright, Humbert's search for her is accordingly unsuccessful. Several years later Humbert visits Lolita, who is married to another man and pregnant. His love for her remains, in spite of her circumstances, but she refuses to return to him. He relents and gives her a present of cash, and during this meeting, discovers the name of his nemesis. Subsequently, he hunts for Quilty and murders him at home.