Summary
A gilded cage shatters when Judith Westover—porcelain-determined amid the chromium glare of 1920s affluence—petitions for divorce from serial philanderer Billy, whose roving appetites have corroded their marital gilt. Minutes after the decree is uttered, the telephone’s brass bell tolls financial apocalypse: Billy’s speculative empire has vaporized. Reeling, he staggers into the asphalt current and is reaped by a truck’s steel snout. Widowhood lands Judith in the fog-cooled parlors of the Ogilvy estate, a sanatorium of whispers and lace, under the watch of Henrietta Carter, physician and confidante. Across the clipped hedges appears Princeton Hadley, Billy’s former comrade, a man carved from quiet mahogany, secretly funneling alimony to Judith out of loyalties she never requested. Their first encounter is a flare of unrecognized chemistry; revelation of the clandestine stipend detonates her pride, propelling her automobile into a reckless escape. Hadley, clinging to the speeding door like a penitent shadow, is hurled with her into a railway cutting as a locomotive screams past. Both bodies, broken and reborn, wake side-by-side under antiseptic light, where contrition and need entwine; Hadley’s proposal blooms from guilt and desire, and Judith—tired of fighting gravity—finally says yes.
Synopsis
Judith Westover files for a divorce from her wealthy young husband Billy because of his inability to remain faithful. As Billy bids goodbye to Judith, a call comes from his attorney notifying him that all his investments have been wiped out. Shocked, he leaves Judith and while crossing the street is run over and killed by a truck. Judith, grief-stricken, accepts the invitation of her doctor, Henrietta Carter, to recuperate at the Ogilvy estate, where she meets neighbor Princeton Hadley, an old friend of Billy's who, feeling duty-bound, has been paying Judith alimony. Hadley, unaware that she is his friend's wife, is attracted to Judith, but upon learning that Hadley has secretly been paying her alimony, Judith becomes furious at the deception and speeds away in her car. Hadley clings to the side of the automobile and the two are hurled into a ditch by a passing train. Awakening in the hospital beside each other, Hadley pleads with Judith to become his wife and she finally consents.
