Summary
In an audacious, almost mythological social experiment, the eccentric millionaire Eli Tapper, convinced of civilization's corrosive influence, orchestrates the upbringing of two unrelated orphans, Adam and Eve, in pristine wilderness. Under the tutelage of the sage David Winters, these 'path-breakers of a better race' blossom into nineteen years of idyllic, uncorrupted existence, embodying a profound simplicity amidst nature's embrace. Their Edenic peace shatters with Tapper's death, as his will, a final, ironic twist, compels his grasping sister, Mrs. Tupper-Bellamy, to introduce the unspoiled duo to the very society he disdained. The inheritance hinges upon this immersion, drawing in Seymour Purchwell, a cunning society idler and attorney, who, like a serpent, infiltrates their garden. While Eve initially succumbs to the dazzling superficiality of the social whirl, Adam recoils in visceral disgust from its inherent sham and deceit, pleading for a return to their primal sanctuary. His principled stand leads him to Parisian studies, leaving Eve vulnerable to Purchwell's calculating pursuit of the Tupper fortune. The ensuing social machinations, culminating in Clarice's jealous accusations, force Eve to confront the hollow core of this 'civilized' world. In a powerful, innocent denunciation of its passion and greed, she casts off its gilded chains, returning to Eden with Winters. Adam, summoned back, finds his true counterpart, and together, re-awakened to a love born not of societal construct but of shared purity and experience, they, with their devoted guardian, reclaim their world, leaving behind the artifice.
Synopsis
Believing that over-civilization was destroying the race, Eli Tapper, an eccentric millionaire, took two unrelated orphan children, a boy and a girl, and placed them in a wilderness, there in the care of an old tutor, David Winters, to grow up as a new Adam and Eve, and become path-breakers of a better race. In delightful simplicity and educated as much as they could be without contact with the world, the children attain the age of nineteen years. Mrs. Tupper-Bellamy, society leader, lives in costly splendor against the day when she hopes to inherit her brother millions. She plans to marry her daughter, Clarice, to Seymour Purchwell, society idler of standing and also an attorney. Purchwell makes it plain that the marriage can occur if Eli Tupper's fortune goes to the girl and her mother. When Tupper dies the sister and her set learn for the first time of his odd experiment. His will provides that the sister must take Adam and Eve into civilization in order to win an annuity of $50,000 a year. The orphans are heirs to the rest. Purchwell sets out to find them. He locates the Eden of the boy and girl and old Winters, and is literally the serpent in the garden. Winters resents leaving, but a clash between Adam and Purchwell decides him. Plunged amidst the whirl of social affairs Eve is delighted. Adam is disgusted with the sham and deceit of society, and pleads with her to return to Eden. She refuses. Winters takes him to Paris to study. Purchwell, seeking the Tupper fortune, turns his attention to Eve. Clarice is in a frenzy of affection spurned, and after finding the two alone she accuses them before the whole house party. Eve, in her innocence, does not readily grasp the meaning of the charge. When it dawns on her she faces the guests, and in her bitterness denounces them as tools of passion and greed, and announces that she will give up all and return to Eden. With old Winters, she returns. Adam is recalled from Paris, and the girl and the boy, now awake to their love, together with their beloved guardian, give up the world.
