After manicurist Katie Malloy rehabilitates Peter Crandall from his life of drinking and gambling, Peter falls in love with her and they marry. When he is dispatched home to New York after he suffers a gunshot wound at the hands of one of Katie's disappointed suitors, Peter's wealthy family hopes to annul the marriage. Katie follows her husband East where her sincerity wins the sympathy of her brother-in-law, Henry Gilsey, who arranges for Katie's social education while Peter is attending to business in the South. Meanwhile, when Katie discovers that Henry's wife Edith is carrying on an affair with another man, she sacrifices her own reputation and happiness to save Edith from the wrath of her husband. However, Peter sees through the deception, and his family, finally recognizing Katie's noble character, welcomes her as a new member.