In the early part of the Nineteenth Century, Beau Brummell was the most talked-of person in all the world, the extreme of fashion, the personification of elegance and the most pretentious individual imaginable. Helen, the daughter of Lord Ballarat, falls a victim to his charms, although she is warned by the Duchess of Devonshire, against him. Beau, not the least disconcerted, persists in his attentions to Helen and proposes to her. He is an intimate of the Prince of Wales and all the nobility of the period. They copy his style and ape his manners. Lord Devonshire and the Prince of Wales are very close friends, and when Beau Brummel insults the prince, the lord forbids Helen seeing Beau until he apologizes to the prince. Helen pleads with him to make amends to his highness, but he refuses, rather than disregard his own conceit or sacrifice his overbearing pride. The prince does not fail to resent Beau Brummel's effrontery and through him, Beau's privileges and importance are very much lessened. He indulges in all sorts of extravagances, irrespective of his means, and is soon reduced to social and financial ruin. Yet his pride is not at all disturbed, for he takes occasion again to snub the prince, whom he chances to meet. In desperation, Brummel endeavors to recoup his fortune with his few remaining crowns, by staking his all at cards and he loses. He is now besieged by creditors and placed in a debtor's prison. Helen Ballarat, in sympathy, sends him, through her bankers, five hundred pounds, and he is released. With shattered mind, he retires into seclusion, and after five years of destitution he is rescued from poverty and the madhouse by his old friend Alvanley, who gives him a comfortable home where he passes his time in dim memories of the past.