the beautiful ottilie van zandt is the daughter of a wealthy colonel who owns a cooperage. she loves richard "dick" wayne, the son of her father's foreman, but her father wishes her to marry her cousin, a drunken libertine. dick travels and becomes a success, but when he returns, he finds his beloved betrothed, and so he marries another woman. after many years, both are single again, but they are never able to consummate their love. dick saves ottilie from bankruptcy by purchasing her home before she is evicted. still later, the couple's grandchildren meet and marry happily.