in sussex, england after the great war, former aristocrat mary viner (florence vidor) and her father, retired sea captain hesketh viner (charles a. stevenson), live in a small humble cottage on doomsday, a large and valuable farm property owned by a wealthy landlord named percival fream (lawrence grant). mary is attracted to another tenant at doomsday, arnold furze (gary cooper), a young ex-officer and farmer who works the land with pride as if it were his own. soon she and arnold fall in love, but she longs to escape her oppressive poverty.