Grace Pike

The marriage of Jim and Esther spirals downhill rapidly when Esther purchases a sable coat for herself. Hoping to live up to her expensive accessory, Esther soon is keeping company with caddish Morrell. Jim brings his wife's galavanting to an abrupt end by committing suicide. Esther as an object lesson for young Alice Kendall, returns the fur coat that she's bought on impulse.

In the small town of Sycamore Ridge live youthful sweethearts Bob Hendricks and Molly Culpepper; Bob's banker father, General Hendricks; and John Barclay, head of the Golden Belt Wheat Co. When Adrian Brownwell comes to town to publish a newspaper, his cash deposits in Hendricks' bank relieve the banker's worry that an expected bank examiner will discover the shortage in bank funds resulting from Hendricks' support of Barclay. Adrian falls in love with Molly and decides to leave Sycamore Ridge when she refuses to marry him. Barclay threatens Molly with the financial ruin of many whom she holds dear unless she marries Adrian, and Bob returns from the East to find Molly the new Mrs. Brownwell.

When a young woman's great romance is interrupted by the influence of her lover's parents, she turns to her art as a violinist to console herself. As she is about to achieve her highest triumph, she is suddenly confronted by the return of the man she loves, and she must make a choice.