Jack Sterling from up York State marries the daughter of old Squire Merton, takes her back to the big city and later becomes affluent in business, but is not as attentive to his wife as he should be. Easily won wealth seems to lead him from home rather than attach him to it.

A good mother, dying, bequeaths to her daughter a well-worn Bible, beseeching her to follow its teachings day by day. Her father, a brutal inebriate, comes home and finds her reading the old book, snatches it from her, stamps upon it, and falls to the floor in a drunken fury.