Summary
In a mansion where lace curtains filter guilt like sunbeams, orphaned heiress Jean Hilton—equal parts porcelain saint and silent strategist—bankrolls the future of her secret beloved, Jimmie Dexter, by funneling her inheritance through his eagle-eyed mother. College gates swing open; jazz notes, cigarette haze, and cabaret siren Diana Parish rush in, forging a counterfeit Eden of easy applause and easier morals. One forged zero turns a harmless $25 tribute into a $250 confession of gullibility, detonating the family ledger and flinging Jimmie into the soot-smeared underbelly of manual labor. Calloused hands and coal-lit nights chisel the boy into a man who, upon re-crossing the threshold of the only home that ever mattered, discovers that forgiveness, like love, has been waiting in the parlor with the lights left on.
Synopsis
Wealthy orphan Jean Hilton is in love with Jimmie Dexter, with whose mother she lives. Mrs. Dexter is about to send her son to college when she loses her small income, so Jean induces Mrs. Dexter to accept money from her guardian, Squire Padgate, and Jimmie goes off to school. There he meets young cabaret singer Diana Parish, becomes infatuated with her, and writes her a check for $25. Diana adds another zero to the amount and the check bounces due to insufficient funds. As Diana implores Jimmie to save her, Mrs. Dexter and Jean arrive and inform him that he has been squandering Jean's money. Enraged at being treated like a child, Jimmie vows to make it on his own. After working at hard physical labor, Jimmie returns home and all is forgiven.
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