A ruthless young working-class Englishman takes a job in a North Country village controlled by a local millionaire. The young man resents the magnate's class consciousness and vows to rise to the top by wooing the millionaire's daughter, while having an affair with a Frenchwoman.. Though he regards his lover as a mere self-gratifying conquest, she takes their romance seriously enough to kill herself when he impregnates the daughter. Only as he leaves the chapel after marrying the millionaire's daughter does he realize that his "smart" marriage, coupled with the guarantee of a fabulous career, has been attained at the cost of his soul..