When Yvonne de Chausson comes home from a trip to France, she is told that her grandfather, lumber magnate Andre de Mersay, has been stricken with an undisclosed illness. He is sequestered in a room and his secretary refuses to allow Yvonne to see him. Her attempts to get to him are constantly thwarted and the plot thickens with the appearance of John Thorne, who purchases part of the familys land holdings without Yvonnes consent.