When Wall Street dynamo Richard Strong rescues Edwin Rossiter from financial ruin, Rossiter is so grateful that he persuades his daughter Elinor to marry their benefactor, although she does not love him. Instead, Elinor favors her distant cousin, Charles Dalton, a dissipated member of the aristocracy who weds Zoldene, an actress, on the day of Elinor and Strong's wedding. Soon after, Dalton wearies of Zoldene and renews his attention to Elinor, now estranged from her husband.