The world's finest ruby was stolen from the bride of Prince Kassim's great-grandfather several generations ago in India by a marauding rajah. It's now several decades later and the British have conquered India, and one day the ruby shows up for sale by a wealthy London jeweler, Sir John Garnett. Garnett has his own problems--there have been a rash of thefts of his wife's jewels, and he hires a private detective named James Brett to investigate.

Wealthy George Hunter struggles to maintain his social-climbing wife and daughters' expensive lifestyle. After his, investments crash, he faces financial ruin and seeks help from a wealthy aunt, leading to various complications.

After five years of repressed protest, Norma, wife of Dr. Hugh Ellis, a moderately successful physician, suddenly voices denunciation regarding the average position of the American wife in the average American home today wherein she is compelled to be entirely answerable to her husband in expenditures for household and petty needs.