When Jeffry Farraday, the black-sheep son of an aristocratic Southern family, returns to his family's plantation after five years of being a hobo, his loving mother directs him to the bathtub and then burns his soiled clothes. Jeffry's inimical brother Rodman and his discontented wife Antonia live at the Farraday estate, as does his sister Catherine, her husband George and their two children, Peter and Elsbeth. Antonia does not love Rodman and is having an affair with Carter Jerome, who sneaks into her bedroom and, after swearing his love for her, begs her to elope with him. Fearing that Rodman will discover them, Antonia tells Carter to leave, but Carter shows little concern and insists that the last place he would expect to find Rodman would be in her bedroom. Though she is not in love with Carter, Antonia decides to flee with him after Rodman strikes her. In addition to the long-standing animosity between him and his brother, Jeffry is also given a cool reception by Catherine, who reminds George that Jeffry is a jailbird and tries to keep Peter and Elsbeth from coming into contact with him. Soon after they meet for the first time, Jeffry and Antonia, both free spirits, become fast friends. Realizing that he is unwelcome at the Farraday house, Jeffry decides to leave with his hobo friends, Somerset "Doc" Greenman and Snipe, who have come to visit him. When Jeffry sees Antonia boarding a train with Carter at the train station, he removes her and tells her that she will be throwing her life away if she leaves. After Jeffry tells her that "a man can be a tramp, but a woman can't," he convinces her to return to Rodman and attend the foxhunt and ball that she is to host with him. During the foxhunt, Antonia happens upon Jeffry, Snipe and Doc, who are fishing in a nearby lake, and talks with them until Carter shows up and accuses Jeffry of being Antonia's lover. Later, after Jeffry and Antonia, who have indeed fallen in love, kiss, he bids her farewell because he cannot betray his brother. Before Jeffry leaves, however, his mother, who believes that he is the more worthy of her two sons, instructs him to marry Antonia once she and Rodman are divorced.