Kansas City, a hot summer evening. Two adults and four children are singing hymns and handing out religious pamphlets. The oldest boy does not like what he has to do, but his parents eagerly are given the salvation of lost souls, which brings them only moral satisfaction. Asa Griffiths, the father of the family, is characterized by impracticality, and the family can barely make ends meet.
Young Clyde Griffiths seeks to break out of this dull little world. He becomes an assistant in a drugstore, then a messenger to the hotel "Green-Davidson." Working in the hotel does not require any special skills, but it brings good tips that allow Clyde to contribute to the family budget buy good clothes and save funds.
His colleagues quickly take Clyde into their company, and he plunges into a fun new existence. He meets a pretty saleswoman Hortense Briggs, who however is not going to have anyone's favor only for beautiful eyes. She wants to have a fashionable jacket, which is one hundred and fifteen dollars, and Clyde cannot resist her desire.
Soon, Clyde goes on a pleasure trip in the luxurious "Packard". This car has been taken by one of the young men, Sparser, without permission from the garage of one rich man, whom his father is working for. On the way back to Kansas City weather begins to deteriorate, it is snowing, and they have to go very slowly. Clyde and his friends are late for work in the hotel and therefore ask Sparser to add speed. And so he does, but careless, knock down a girl, and then, fleeing from prosecution, cannot cope with the driving. The driver and one of the girls are lying unconscious in a broken car; the rest of the company runs away.
The next day the newspapers report on the incident. The girl has died, arrested Sparser says the names of all other members of the company. Fearing arrest, Clyde and some of the others leave Kansas City. For three years Clyde has been living away from home under a false name, he performs the dirty thankless job and gets pennies for it. But one day in Chicago, he meets his friend Ratterer, who was also with him in the Packard. Ratterer arranges him in the "Union Club" as a messenger. Clyde is quite happy with his new life, but once in the club appears Samuel Griffiths, his uncle, who lives in the city of Lycurgus, New York, and owns a factory of the production of collars. The result of the meeting of relatives becomes Clyde’s moving to Lycurgus. Uncle promised him a place in the factory, although does not promise the mountains of gold.
Samuel’s son Gilbert accepts his cousin with no special joy, and making sure that he does not have any useful knowledge and skills, defines him to sufficiently heavy and low-paid work in a shop housed in the basement. Clyde rents a room in a cheap boarding house and begins, as they say, from scratch, hoping, however, sooner or later to succeed.
A month passes. Clyde regularly does whatever he is instructed. Griffiths Sr. asks the son, of the opinion of Clyde but Gilbert is rather cold in the estimation. According to him, Clyde is unlikely to advance - he has no education, is purposeless, and is too soft. However, Samuel finds Clyde good and he is ready to give his nephew a chance to show himself. Contrary to the wishes of Gilbert, Clyde is invited into the house for a family dinner. There, he meets not only with the family of his cousin but with charming too ladies Bertine Cranston and Sondra Finchley, who find him a quite beautiful and well-mannered young man.
Finally, on the insistence of his father, Gilbert finds Clyde a less heavy and more prestigious job. However, Gilbert warns him that he must keep up appearances in relationships with women workers and all sorts of liberties will be strongly suppressed. Clyde is ready to faithfully fulfill all the requirements of his employers and, despite attempts of some girls to tie a relationship with him, remains deaf to their overtures.
Soon, however, the factory receives an additional order for the collars, and this, in turn, requires an expansion of the state. To the factory comes young Roberta Alden, whose charm Clyde cannot resist. They start dating, Clyde’s courtship becomes more and more insistent, and brought up in strict rules Roberta is unable to remember the maiden prudence. Meanwhile, Clyde meets again with Sondra Finchley, and the meeting abruptly changes his life. The rich heiress, a spokeswoman for the local aristocracy of money, Sondra shows genuine interest in the young man and invites him to a night of dancing, which gathers the golden youth. Under the pressure of new experiences modest charm of Roberta begins to fade in the eyes of Clyde. She feels that Clyde is not so attentive to her, she is afraid of losing his love, and one day she gives in to the temptation. Roberta and Clyde become lovers.
Sondra Finchley, however, does not disappear out of his life. Instead, she introduces Clyde to her circle, and enticing prospects hit his head. This does not go unnoticed by Roberta, and she experiences severe torments of jealousy. To top it all it turns out that she is pregnant. She says that to Clyde, and he frantically tries to find a way out of this situation. But drugs do not bring the desired result, and the doctor, whom they find so hard, categorically refuses to do an abortion.
The only way out - to get married, absolutely does not satisfy Clyde. After all, this means that he will have to give up dreams of a brilliant future instilled by the relationship with Sondra. Roberta is desperate. She is ready to tell about what had happened to Clyde’s uncle. This would mean an end to his career, and the cross on the affair with Sondra. He promises Roberta to find some doctor, or marry her, even formally, and maintain her for a while until she can work again.
But here is a newspaper article that tells about the tragedy at Pass Lake - a man and a woman took a boat, but the next day the boat was found upside-down, and later the girl's body was found, but the man did not show up. This story makes a strong impression on him, especially since he received a letter from Roberta, who had gone to her parents: she is not going to wait any longer and promises to return to Lycurgus and to tell the elder Griffiths. Clyde realizes that he has no time to spare, and he has to make a decision.
Clyde invites Roberta to make a trip to Big Bittern and then promises to marry her. So it seems that a terrible decision is made, but he does not believe that will find the strength to carry out his plan. It's one thing to murder the imagination, and quite another - in reality.
And Clyde and Roberta go boating on a deserted lake. Clyde’s thoughtful look scares Robert, she carefully sits beside him and asks what had happened. But when she tries to touch him, he hits her and pushes her so that she loses her balance and falls. The boat turns over and hits Roberta. She begs Clyde to help her, but he is inactive. He goes to the bank alone, without Roberta.
But Roberta’s body is quickly found. Investigator Haight and prosecutor Mason vigorously take the case and soon come to Clyde. He initially pretends to know nothing, but for an experienced prosecutor, it is not difficult to corner him. Clyde is arrested - now his fate will be decided at the court.
Samuel Griffiths, of course, is shocked by what has happened but hires good lawyers. Those are fighting tooth and nail, but Mason knows his business as well. A long and tense trial ends with the imposition of the death penalty. Wealthy family cease to assist Clyde and only his mother is trying to do something for him.
Clyde is transferred to Auburn prison, called the House of Death. Desperate attempts by his mother to find the money to continue the fight for the life of her son do not bring success. Society has lost interest in the condemned, and now nothing will prevent the machinery of justice from finishing its job.
