An author whose sole thought is his books, and who is a veritable bookworm, has a beautiful young wife, and as he leaves her alone continually she is forced to seek her own amusement. A friend of his comes to pay them a visit and the husband turns him over to his wife, saying they must entertain one another, as he is too busy with his books. The friend is rather reluctant to accept this arrangement, but under the circumstances is obliged to do so, as the husband insists on it. After an elapse of a couple of weeks, the wife and friend realize that they are falling in love with each other. The friend, not wishing to be a party to any wrongdoing, decides to leave, but is prevented by the husband, who has been suddenly called to the City, and he wishes his friend to stay and protect his wife while he is away. While the husband is in the city he has an attack of sunstroke and is carried home in a very serious condition, and after the doctor's visit is told to keep very quiet, as any undue excitement would be liable to cause his death. The friend and wife meet in the library; he confesses his love for her and tells her he must leave her home. The husband gets up to work on his books and in walking through the library discovers his wife and friend in serious conversation, and thinking that his wife is untrue to him he gets into such a rage he falls in a faint. The doctor is immediately sent for, who injects morphine to install his heart to a normal condition. The doctor leaves his morphine and syringe by mistake and it is picked up by the wife, who shows it to the friend, who suspects her of having given it to her husband. The wife, upon re-entering the husband's bedroom, has a fierce argument with him, which causes his death (by excitement). The friend steps in, picks up the morphine bottle and hides it to protect the wife from being accused of murder; but upon the doctor's visit she is exonerated, as he gave the morphine to the husband and the sunstroke was the real cause of his death. The friend, feeling as though he was a partial cause of the death, decides to go west and be heard of no more, and writes telling the wife so.