Louis Trevelyan is an English bachelor traveling to the (fictitious) Mandarin Islands where he meets a girl whom he falls for, a girl named Emily Rowley, the governor's daughter. The Rowley family travels to London with the young couple where they are married. Emily's sister Nora stays with the new couple.
They have a baby boy, but soon there is trouble in paradise. Emily receives constant visits from another suitor, Colonel Osborne, friends of Emily's father, Sir Marmaduke. When Louis criticizes her for these visits, she criticizes his lack of trust, and the two begin to fall apart. Nora also attracts suitors, including Charles Glascock, a wealthy heir, and also Hugh Stanbury, Trevelyan's friend. When the rich man proposes, Nora declines, waiting on Hugh's to admit his love for her. Hugh has an aunt whose political conservatism drives Hugh crazy.
Trouble in paradise continues when Emily and Nora are sent to live with Hugh's mother and sister, Priscilla. Emily has not stopped seeing Colonel Osborne. Meanwhile, Hugh's aunt is busy matchmaking among the youth, but she ends up making messes everywhere she tries to help. Hugh is not the heir to Aunt Stanbury's fortune. She plans to leave her wealth to Brooke Burgess, of her fiancé's family.
Gibson (one of Aunt Stanbury's picks) ends up marrying Arabella, and Camilla, Arabella's sister, is furious about it. Dorothy and Brooke Burgess hit it off, but when Brooke proposes, they end up fighting and she leaves, back to the Mandarin Islands. She ends up coming back and being married regardless.
Trevelyan and his wife don't make it, and in the aftermath of their separation, he finds American girls abroad in Italy, and he proposes to one named Caroline, who accepts. Back home, Emily has continued her visits with the Colonel, so Trevelyan finds a sneaky way to kidnap their son. Emily and friends track down Trevelyan who is dying. She asks him on his deathbed to kiss her hand to indicate that he believes her claims of innocence, and he gives her his blessing.
