After losing all his savings in a crooked horse race, young Myles Vanders is forced to take his two horses back to the Virginia home he has not seen in twenty years. Myles arrives at the family estate, which has suffered years of neglect, with his friend and horse trainer Duffy, to whom he relates the story of the Vanders scandal in which his father ran off with the neighbor Lockwood's wife years earlier. Because the Lockwoods are a prominent family in town, the community still holds a grudge against the Vanders family, which Myles soon discovers when his application for loans and credit are rejected. Myles pays a visit to the Lockwood house to confront Davis Lockwood about the rejections, and the old man agrees to loan Myles three thousand dollars until he can enter his horse "Skipper" in the Thomas Jefferson Handicap race, using the Vanders plantation as collateral. At the Lockwood house, Myles meets daughters Linda and Joan, who invite him to a party that night. As Myles begins to court Joan, Linda learns from Duffy about Myles's great compassion for horses and defends him to her father. Davis, however, insists that Myles is an exact duplicate of his father and warns his daughters to stay away from him. Myles's luck turns from bad to worse when "Skipper" is injured in a stable fire and Joan jilts him to elope with the wealthy Ted Milner. In addition, Myles learns that Jeff, Davis' servant, deliberately set the fire thinking that it would please Davis. That night, Linda confesses her love for Myles, and he marries her out of revenge. Linda offers Myles her horse, "Miss Richmond," a fast filly who has been taught to lose, and he begins to train the horse to compete against Lockwood's prize horse "Prince" in the upcoming race. Linda provides Myles with encouragement and support for his undertaking, but on the day before the race, she leaves him. Realizing that unless he wins the race, he will have nothing to offer her, Myles lets her go. Myles's training and Linda's faith pays off when "Miss Richmond" beats "Prince" against all odds, and the newlyweds begin life anew.