Jeffrey Dwyer, a gifted but neurotic novelist, is attracted to Joan Converse, a young and innocent girl, but neglects her when he meets the voluptuous Inez Martin. After a short, passionate affair, Inez discards Jeffrey in favor of Harry Todd, whom she marries; Jeffrey turns to drink and debauchery and no longer writes. When he realizes the waste and futility of his life, he marries Joan, rents a lodge in the mountains, and writes a second and successful novel. He and Joan are happy until Inez, whose marriage has failed, decides that she wants to resume her relationship with him. She rents a lodge near his, and Jeffrey, after a sharp conflict between the idealistic and the sensual in his nature, leaves a letter for Joan, telling her that he is deserting her, and goes to Inez. Quickly realizing, however, that his infatuation with Inez is over, he returns to Joan, who forgives him and gladly welcomes him home again.