Approaching middle age, spinster Ann Hamilton, the daughter of Science Professor David Hamilton - more affectionately referred to as Dink - is intelligent, but dowdy and unsophisticated, she who never expects to get married and does nothing beyond be her tomboyish self in an effort to attract a man. Being single does not bother her as she repeatedly turns down the marriage proposal of Dink's colleague, Professor Joseph Bangs, a man she does not love. So it is with some surprise to her that she not only likes Alan Garroway, a wealthy and handsome industrialist who is doing business with Dink, but that they fall in love and get married after a whirlwind courtship. Alan made his wealth during the war in a family started business which ended up being a parts supplier to the military for their aircraft. In their bi-coastal marriage - Alan's company's headquarters in San Francisco, while he grew up and still owns property in Middleburg, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC where he has many friends in high society - Ann begins to have doubts primarily concerning two aspects. First, she feels out of place in his high society world, and like she is the laughing stock among his friends. He is able to quell her fears about this issue as he acts as her guide to fashion and society behavior. Second, and arguably more important, Ann begins to feel she doesn't really know Alan, mostly as he hid from her the fact that he has a brother, Michael Garroway, from who he is estranged and whose whereabouts he does not know. Michael was once part of the business in its early struggling days, but they parted when Alan caught him stealing from the company. Although she loves and trusts Alan, Ann begins to feel a kinship to what little she learns of Michael through her own investigation, which could place her at odds with Alan, and place her life in potential danger at either the hands of Alan or Michael, which of the two depending on if Alan is telling her the truth about his brother.