On the death of a French actor and his English wife, their daughter Claud is left penniless, and in the care of the coarse, ignorant village woman who had fostered her while her parents were on tour. When Claud is fifteen, her mother's cousin Lola, Lady Seraphim, lovely, rich, and married to an elderly invalid finds her, and then her life becomes one of luxury. However, Lola harbours resentments from years previously and intends exacting a subtle penalty from her ward.