After Pamela Martin's fiancé, lawyer Frank Steele, leaves for South America on business, her mother and another suitor, Douglas Martin, trick her into marrying Douglas by telling her that Frank is a thief. Douglas commonly hosts Bacchanalian parties at the couple's home, and after one of these revelries, during which Pamela explained the reason for her marriage to Frank, who had recently returned from South America, her husband in a drunken rage insults and then attempts to embrace her. Pamela reaches for a knife, but at that instant, she faints and awakens to find Douglas dead and herself charged with murder.