Between the wealth of the aristocrat and the fortune of the successful tradesman there is a great social difference, which is emphasized in this drama. The haughty young society girl marries the Iron Master for reasons which are dramatically shown, but she does not love him. He is a bourgeois and does not understand the feelings of an aristocrat she thinks. But the swift developments which follow their marriage make this splendid character beloved by the observer long before the great climax brings to his wife the realization of his true nobility.