J. Courtleigh Brice, son of a self-made father, lives abroad where he does little except spend the money his father has left and lament the fact that he is not of noble birth. Some business connected with his estate brings him back to America. On the wharf he is buttonholed by reporters, who put him down as one who finds American women "loud," and quote his declaration that he will marry no one except a titled gentlewoman.