In the logging town of Bangor, Maine during the 1820's, a young woman who has lived with an abusive drunkard father decides that men are to be used for her benefit. She falls under the watchful eye of an older lumber magnate and she accepts his marriage proposal. Using his money to make a better life for herself, the young woman meets her husband's college age son and tells him she would marry him if his father was out of the picture. Unbeknownst to the son, the woman has already set her eyes on another man, who is engaged to her best friend.