A wealthy New England family, the Mannons, await the return of patriarch Ezra, general for the Union army, and son Orin, a timid young man before becoming an Army officer at the end of the Civil War. Lavinia, who adores her father, is shocked to see mother Christine kissing another man. Worse yet, the man is sea captain Adam Brant, someone whom Lavinia has long fancied herself, even though her childhood friend Peter Niles has been courting her.