Katherine Brinkley, a rich young woman who delights in challenging conventions, elopes with a married young musician, Nicolai Brouevitch, but when he deserts her she is cast aside by society. Wandering off to Italy, she meets Franklin Shelby, a young American also married, with whom she falls in love. When Shelby and Katherine encounter Brouevitch and his wife, the latter, failing to establish a satisfactory relationship, reveals Katherine's past to Shelby's wife. Shelby defends Katherine, and his mother and wife finally realize that she is a "good woman" when she sends Shelby back to his wife.