Summary
In an era where socioeconomic strata dictated matters of the heart, the earnest but impecunious physician Jack Stilling finds his profound affection for Faith Channing usurped by the opulent allure of James Winthrop. Their union, however, proves a gilded cage, as Winthrop's insatiable pursuit of social ascendancy progressively estranges him from his wife. When the captivatingly duplicitous Hortense Filliard ensnares Winthrop in her web, a desperate Faith seeks to reclaim her husband's affections through the profound bond of progeny. Yet, fate, in its cruelest irony, snatches the infant soon after its birth, plunging Faith into a profound melancholia. Stilling, bound by his Hippocratic oath and an enduring, unspoken love, administers morphine to alleviate her suffering. Observing Faith's fragile state, a morally bankrupt Winthrop, egged on by Hortense, devises a malevolent scheme: to ensnare his wife in the throes of drug dependency, thereby facilitating a divorce. This nefarious plot, however, proves a double-edged sword, as Winthrop himself succumbs to the very addiction he sought to inflict, perishing in a fit of drug-induced delirium. Stilling, ever vigilant, intervenes in the nick of time, extricating Faith from the precipice of addiction and guiding her towards a nascent dawn, where their deferred love may finally blossom, unburdened by past tragedies.
Synopsis
Realizing that it would be difficult to support a wife on his meager income, struggling physician Jack Stilling loses his love, Faith Channing, to the wealthy James Winthrop. After Faith and Winthrop marry, they begin to drift apart as Winthrop becomes consumed with his pursuit of social ambition. When her husband falls under the spell of fashionable Hortense Filliard, Faith determines to bear him a child in order to win him back. The infant dies soon after its birth, however, and Faith falls into a deep depression, forcing Stilling to prescribe morphine for her. Winthrop, spurred on by Hortense, conceives of a plan to addict Faith to the drug and then file for divorce. His plans backfire, however, when he becomes a slave to the drug and dies in a fit of delirium. Stilling intervenes in time to spare Faith the ravages of addiction, and the doctor and the woman he never ceased loving prepare for a new life.
