Summary
In the opulent post-war landscape of Venice, Gail Grant, the headstrong scion of a Pittsburgh steel empire, arrives with a singular demand: the Imperial Suite. Her audacious presence inadvertently sets in motion a whirlwind romance with Prince Dantarini, a nobleman gracefully liquidating his ancestral estate. Their courtship is swift, a passionate whirlwind culminating in a garden proposal and Gail’s acceptance. However, the honeymoon is abruptly derailed by Dantarini’s business commitments, igniting Gail’s fiery independence and a bitter quarrel. She retreats to the sanctuary of the bedroom, while he, with an almost unnerving calm, proceeds with dinner. Gail’s subsequent declaration of divorce coincides with the unexpected reappearance of George Banning-Green, a persistent former suitor. Her introduction of Banning-Green to Dantarini triggers a potent, almost primitive jealousy in the Prince. Yet, it is Dantarini's unexpected offer of freedom that paradoxically shatters Gail’s resolve, leading a single, well-timed word from Banning-Green to propel the estranged lovers back into each other's arms, a testament to the unpredictable nature of desire and pride.
Synopsis
Gail Grant, the impetuous daughter of a Pittsburgh steel magnate, arrives at a hotel in Venice and demands the Imperial Suite; in London, George Banning-Green, a persistent admirer, believes that she has gone to Berlin. Searching for "imperial" furnishings, the hotel manager goes to the palace of Prince Dantarini, who is selling the contents of his villa as an aftermath of the war. Dantarini agrees to be her guide in Venice, and when he proposes in his garden, Gail accepts. When their honeymoon trip is postponed because of a business appointment, they quarrel, and she locks herself in the bedroom while he calmly sits down to dinner. After announcing her plan to divorce him, Gail bumps into Banning-Green and introduces him to her husband, whereupon Dantarini becomes violently jealous; when he offers her her freedom, however, her will is broken, and a word from Banning-Green sends them into each other's arms.
