The protagonists of Chesil Beach are two young people.  They were very different because the family of the girl, Florence was rich and the boy poor.

They got merried but they had some problems whit sex: the convesation about the topic was always difficult, almost a taboo. The guys got merried in St Mary's Oxford. The church was attendend by students of the town, too. The intelligent reader wonders "Why did the two protagonists got married?" Now we must look for the answer in the society of the time.The setting is around 1930 when young people were not considered and marriage was like the very true entry into the world of adults. So thye protagonist hoped to solve their problems getting married but it did not help indeed.