Farmer Slater has tyrannized over his family so long that they dare not call their souls their own. Bob, the younger son, is sullen. John, the elder, has promised to work out his college-education debt on the farm. Just before his return, he has married Ruth, a lighthearted, joyous city girl who promises to "make his people her people." At the Slater farm she is chilled and browbeaten from the first: the breakfast hour is 4:30 a.m., the parlor curtains are kept down to prevent the carpet fading, etc. Bob, angered at his father's refusal to let him attend a party, goes to the saloon, returns full of bitterness and liquor, and steals money from his father's strongbox. He is caught and his father orders him out of the house forever, but his mother Joan defies her husband for the first time and announces that she is going with Bob. They leave, and Slater, left alone, is overcome by his rage and falls in a fit. They hear his fail and go back. As a result, Slater is an invalid for life, but a changed man, and after a life of discord, the whole family reunites in harmony and love.