Duncan Irving, Jr., a poor boy from a small southern town who loves aristocratic Syliva Randolph, receives an appointment to West Point. In Duncan's final year Sylvia's cousin, Bert Stafford, also enters the academy and resents having to take orders from upperclassman Duncan, whom Bert considers his social inferior. Duncan finally strikes Bert in retaliation for his many insults and consequently is expelled from the Point. When Bert is lost in the jungles of South America, Duncan heads an expedition to rescue his enemy, who finally divulges the truth. Duncan is reinstated at the academy and marries Sylvia upon his graduation.