Would-be politician Sir Hugo Boycott and his wife Madeleine have an unhappy marriage. Madeleine is aware that Hugo is a serial philanderer, and their problems are exacerbated when she fails to produce the heir he wants.

Eustace Ede, the unhinged brother of Lady Magda Ware, is discovered drowned in the lake of her country house. While most assume it to have been suicide, a detective inspector's persistence finally leads to the arrest of Magda's husband, Sir Hubert Ware. The subsequent murder trial turns into a major society scandal, and the strain on Sir Hubert's mind may prove too much for him whether he is found innocent or guilty....

A lonely squire throws a New Year's party for villagers and discloses that he is a poor girl's uncle.

A girl refuses the attentions of a young playboy with whom her sister is in love.

A paralytic dominates his brother and wife until their child reforms him.

An ex-convict tries to kill the detective who once posed as a member of an American hooded clan.