Louis Trevelyan, a handsome, young man, falls in love with Emily Rowley, the daughter of a governor. But their happiness is disturbed when Louis becomes jealous of Emily seeing a family friend, Osborne, and forbids her to see him. Innocent, despite being suspected of wrongdoing, Emily continues to meet with him. Neither Louis nor Emily will back down and a gulf begins to grow between them.

Louis arrives in London unkempt, dishevelled and friendless, driven by his obsession that his wife has betrayed him. When Emily meets him in the hope of reconciliation she is shocked by the deterioration in his health. They try to resolve their differences, but nothing is achieved from the exchange as Louis does not believe Emily and plots to kidnap his son from her.