After an absence of thirty-three years, Spencer Brydon returns from abroad to New York City. He makes this dramatic move in order to oversee improvements to his property, which consists of two houses that have been the source of his financial independence throughout his life. One is in the process of being converted into apartments, while the other, the “jolly corner” of the title, is the house in which Brydon grew up and which he therefore is loathe to alter in any way.