Sudden Riches

Summary

In this poignant domestic drama, a financially beleaguered architect, Robert Crewe, grapples with the escalating demands of his family's lifestyle, oblivious to a sinister undercurrent of ancestral vengeance. His Uncle Abner, a figure consumed by a bitter, decades-old slight — Robert's father having absconded with Abner's betrothed, whose subsequent demise in childbirth fuels a deep-seated animosity — orchestrates a Machiavellian plot. Initial attempts to dismantle Robert's ostensibly idyllic domesticity through the allure of a siren prove futile. However, Abner's premature death unveils a more insidious design: a vast inheritance bequeathed to Robert, a poisoned chalice intended to catalyze his moral and financial ruin. This sudden affluence indeed proves corrosive, eroding the foundational bonds between Robert and his wife, Marion. Their daughter, Emily, becomes an unwitting casualty, relegated to the indifferent care of a nurse, her nights punctuated by solitary tears. As Robert plunges into an abyss of reckless speculation and a dalliance with a Broadway starlet, Marion, too, seeks solace in an affair with a distinguished sculptor. The Crewe fortune rapidly dissipates amid imprudent investments. It is only when Emily's fragile health is gravely imperiled by their neglect that the fractured couple confronts the precipice of their self-destruction, choosing a path of profound introspection and arduous reconciliation to salvage their shattered familial unit.

Synopsis

Although he is a successful architect, devoted family man Robert Crewe does not earn enough to cover the expenses of his wife Marion and daughter Emily. Unknown to him, his Uncle Abner wants to ruin him because Robert's father stole Abner's fiancée, who died in childbirth after their marriage. Abner hires a beautiful seductress to break up Robert's happy home, but she is unsuccessful. Abner, who dies prematurely, leaves Robert his fortune, hoping that it finally will lead to Robert's downfall. As Robert and Marion drift apart, Emily is left in the hands of an uncaring nurse and cries herself to sleep each night. Robert has an affair with a Broadway actress and Marion becomes romantically involved with a prominent sculptor. Robert squanders his inheritance and involves himself in highly speculative business investments until, threatened with Emily's death, he and Marion finally decide to change their lives and bring the family back together once again.