Barbara Beaurevel lives with her aunt and cousin in New Orleans in the late 1800s. In love with Mark Lucas, a research doctor at Tulane University, her plans to marry him are thwarted. Barbara's family is of the high society stratum, but her late grandmother was not, and the connection with her is something Barbara's aunt is most anxious to conceal. After Barbara inherits a fortune from her grandmother's side of the family, she uses it to try to win back Mark.