Marcus Stone, like his contemporary Tissot, constructed dramatic narratives in his beautifully toned and finished paintings, so theatrical, that in their leisure hours, the Royal family would recreate them in tableaux vivants. The action here is set within a closed and intimate outdoor space, elevated like a stage, with a backdrop of foliage and scenery 'flat' to our right, all artfully lit. It was probably Stone's garden in Holland Park, London, perhaps with neighbouring Holland House visible through the trees. Like a photograph, the background is softly drawn but the figures are in sharp focus and spotlit. A charming but complex story is thus completely told in one simple image. The report in The Illustrated London News of the Royal Academy exhibition in 1883 set out the plot:

A young lady has handed the letter of proposal to her aged papa or guardian, who, seated at an al fresco table, peruses it. As yet his expression is inscrutable; and the fair creature stands in piteous suspense, blushing, and closing her eyes, as though shutting out the dreaded possibility of refused consent.

The Scotsman observed that:

M. Stone's quiet felicity in hitting off a bit of domestic drama is well displayed in the "Offer of Marriage". Adopting his favourite mise-en-scène of a table spread for after-dinner coffee in the garden of a country mansion, he has represented the father in the act of coolly reading the important missive; while the daughter, in a state of severely-repressed excitement, stands by waiting his decision. Behind is heavily massed foliage, through which we catch sight of a red roof glowing in evening sunset. The foreground is in shadow, the subject being worked out in quiet tones, and with the somewhat mannered smoothness of this painter's usual practice.

It is more likely that the old clergyman is the girl's grandfather, than her father, because he is dressed in clothes dated two generations earlier than she is. She was originally painted with downcast eyes, but Stone repainted them open.