Oliver and Elizabeth wed. He is a famous lawyer, careless of his personal conduct, but has implicit faith in Elizabeth. She is a woman of strong mind, a magazine writer of repute, and believes he should guide himself by the same code that governs her. Two of their associates are profligates, Charles, an artist, and Catherine. Oliver trifles with Catherine and this so embitters Elizabeth, that she pretends to receive the attentions of Charles, although it is made clear that she has remained pure. Nevertheless, she purposely permits her husband to believe otherwise. He has considered her like Caesar's wife, but his faith is shattered. A child is born to her and the father doubts its parentage. Worse than this, society also believes her guilty. A divorce separates Oliver from Elizabeth. She is ostracized with her child. In the end the evidence of her purity, which she had purposely concealed, becomes known to Oliver through the dying confession of Charles, and the husband and wife are reconciled and Elizabeth is vindicated, but only after she has seen and regretted the folly of her rebellion against the first law of society. The death of their child plays a large part.