Rosarita, a young relative of the powerful Doña Perfecta in the small Spanish village of Orbajosa, has been betrothed since infancy to her cousin, Pepe Rey Don Jose, although the two have never met. When Pepe comes to visit Rosarita, she immediately falls in love with him, but his offhand remark about the lack of enterprise in the small town alienates Doña Perfecta, and the old woman becomes determined to prevent the marriage.

At a mountain resort, Kenneth Scott falls in love with Marie Beauchamp, an older woman who merely amuses herself with him. When she deserts him to open a roadhouse, he sadly leaves the mountains and, in the company of an old wandering poet named "Doc" Podden, travels to a little village in the woods.

After Fred, an orphan raised by his wealthy Uncle Oliver marries Clara over his uncle's objections, the two men become estranged. When Fred and Clara's child Paul is six years old, Fred insists that his uncle pay them a visit over Christmas. Uncle Oliver, a very lonely old man, begrudgingly accepts but refuses to behave amicably towards Clara or Paul.