Summary
In an era where lineage dictated destiny, Ruth Hamilton emerges as a defiant anomaly within the suffocating confines of the American aristocracy. Rejecting the sterile advances of William Barton—a man whose primary virtue is a pedigree curated by her parents—Ruth seeks solace in the unvarnished reality of the marginalized. Her philanthropic excursion to the shoreline with impoverished children serves as the catalyst for an illicit encounter with John Martin, a titan of industry whose 'new money' status renders him a pariah in the eyes of the old guard. Their clandestine rapport, built on the ruins of social expectation, is jeopardized when Ruth’s father, facing the precipice of financial annihilation, attempts to leverage his daughter’s reputation for Martin’s capital. The ensuing drama is a visceral deconstruction of honor and autonomy, as Ruth refuses to be a pawn in her father's fiscal desperation, only to find a genuine emotional resonance within the man she was once ordered to exploit.
Synopsis
Ruth Hamilton, from a wealthy aristocratic family, cares little for society or its conventions and refuses the proposal of William Barton, a socialite of her parents' choice. While giving some poor children an outing on a beach, Ruth meets John Martin (Miles?), a young nouveau riche with no social standing who is snubbed by the aristocratic circles, and begins to visit him secretly. When Ruth visits John to show off a new costume, her father arrives to seek his financial aid. Ruth escapes, but she is observed by Barton, who informs her father. Hamilton insists that Martin marry his daughter, but Ruth refuses to be compromised by her father. Later, however, she consents to marry John, discovering that he really loves her.
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