Prince Karl Heinz enjoys his carefree life as a student in Heidelberg. He falls in love with the beautiful Käthe and everything is fine and dandy till his father is reported very ill.

Harley Hennage, a gambler, loves Marie but remains silent when he realizes that she is in love with Oliver Corblay, a prospector. After Corblay and Marie marry, Harley moves to the distant town of San Pasqual and does not see his old sweetheart until her husband is killed while staking a claim in the desert.

Mabel Bannister, the daughter of Richard Bannister, visits the wealthy Cardews at Ripley Manor and falls in love with young Jack Cardew, the son of the Bishop of Ripley, Lord John Cardew. Jack asks Mabel to marry him and Jack's stepmother Lady Hester approves, but the bishop doesn't because he knows nothing about Mabel's family. The family invites Mabel and her parents to dinner at the manor to get acquainted--but it turns out that few people in both families are quite what they appear to be, and each side has secrets that they don't want the other to find out.