Michael Dudley, an English moneylender known as Michael Waltburn, is anxious that his daughter Olive be received in society and so arranges with one of his clients, the Duchess of Remington, to sponsor the girl in return for canceling her debt. Olive meets Captain Hector Grant, who is in love with Lady Brenda Carylon but nevertheless courts the moneylender's daughter for her money. Upon inheriting his baronetcy, Grant jilts Olive and then convinces Lady Brenda that her fiancé, the Earl of Ingestre, is Olive's betrayer. Olive, now pregnant, runs away to Italy, sending a letter to her father begging for his forgiveness. Lady Brenda, the earl, Waltburn and Grant rush to Olive in order to clarify the situation, arriving in the midst of an earthquake in which Grant is killed. After Olive absolves the earl of guilt, Lady Brenda forgives him, and Olive returns home with her father.