Kansas City, a hot summer evening. Two adults and four children sing psalms and hand out religious brochures. The older boy clearly does not like what he is forced to do, but his parents are passionately committed to saving lost souls, which, however, brings them only moral satisfaction. Asa Griffiths, the father of the family, is very impractical, and the family is barely making ends meet.

Young Clyde Griffiths seeks to break out of this dull little world. He gets a job as an assistant seller of soda in a pharmacy, and then a delivery man at the Green Davidson Hotel. Work at the hotel does not require any special skills, but brings a good tip, which allows Clyde not only to contribute to the family budget, but also to buy good clothes and put off something.

Workmates quickly take Clyde into their company, and he plunges headlong into a new fun existence. He meets a pretty saleswoman Hortense Briggs, who, however, is prudent over the years and is not going to show anyone favor exclusively for her beautiful eyes. She really wants a fashionable jacket that costs one hundred and fifteen dollars, and it’s hard for Clyde to resist her desire.

Soon, Clyde with the company sets off for a jaunt in a luxurious Packard. One of the young men, Sparser, took this car without permission from the garage of the rich man, whose father serves him. On the way back to Kansas City, the weather starts to go bad, it is snowing, and you have to drive very slowly. Clyde and his comrades are late for work at the hotel and therefore ask Sparser to increase speed. He does so, but, gape, knocks down the girl, and then, moving away from the persecution, can not cope with the management. The driver and one of the girls remain unconscious in the wrecked car, all the others scatter.

The next day, newspapers post an incident. The girl died, the arrested Sparser gave the names of all the other participants in the picnic. Fearing an arrest, Clyde and some of the other members of the company leave Kansas City. - For three years, Clyde has been living away from home under a false name, has been doing dirty, ungrateful work, and is receiving pennies for it. But once in Chicago, he meets his friend Reterer, who was also with him in the "packcard". Reterer arranges him at the Union Club messenger. Twenty-year-old Clyde is quite happy with his new life, but once Samuel Griffiths appears in the club, his uncle, who lives in Lycurgus, New York, and owns a collar factory. The result of a meeting of relatives is Clyde’s move to Lycurgus. His uncle promises him a place in the factory, although he does not promise gold mountains. Clyde’s contacts with wealthy relatives seem more promising than working at Union Club, although he makes good money.

Samuel’s son Gilbert without much joy accepts his cousin and, making sure that he does not have any useful knowledge and skills, determines him to be quite hard and low-paid in a decoding workshop located in the basement. Clyde rents a room in a cheap hostel and starts, as they say, from scratch, hoping, however, to succeed sooner or later.

A month passes. Clyde regularly does everything that is entrusted to him. Griffiths Sr. is interested in his son, what is his opinion about Clyde, but Gilbert, very wary of the appearance of a poor relative, is cool in his assessments. In his opinion, Clyde is unlikely to be able to advance - he has no education, he is not purposeful enough and too soft. However, Samuel Clyde is cute and he is ready to give his nephew a chance to show himself. Contrary to Gilbert’s wishes, Clyde is invited to the house for a family dinner. There he met not only with the family of his relative, but also with the charming representatives of the Lycurgian elite, the young Bertina Cranston and Sondra Finchley, who quite liked the handsome and well-mannered young man.

Finally, at the insistence of his father, Gilbert finds a less difficult and more prestigious job for Clyde - he becomes an accountant. However, Gilbert warns him that he must “respect decency in relations with workers” and all sorts of liberties will be resolutely suppressed. Clyde is ready to sacredly fulfill all the instructions of her employers and, despite the attempts of some girls to establish a relationship with him, there remains a deaf to their flirting.

Soon, however, the factory received an additional order for collars, and this, in turn, required staff expansion. Young Robert Alden arrives at the factory, before the charm of which Clyde is not easy to resist. They begin to meet, Clyde's courtship is becoming more insistent, and it has become harder and harder for Robert brought up in strict rules to remember virgin prudence. Meanwhile, Clyde meets Sondra Finchley again, and this meeting dramatically changes his life. A wealthy heiress, representative of the local money aristocracy, Sondra shows a genuine interest in the young man and invites him to an evening of dancing, where the Lycurgian golden youth gathers. Under the onslaught of new experiences, Roberta's modest charm begins to fade in Clyde's eyes. The girl feels that Clyde is no longer so attentive to her, she is afraid to lose his love, and once she succumbs to temptation. Roberta and Clyde become lovers.

Sondra Finchley, however, does not disappear from his life. On the contrary, she introduces Clyde into her circle, and tempting prospects turn his head. This does not go unnoticed by Roberta, and she experiences the pains of jealousy. To top it all, it turns out that she is pregnant. She admits this to Clyde, and he is feverishly trying to find a way out of this situation. But the drugs do not bring the desired result, and the doctor, whom they find with such difficulty, categorically refuses to have an abortion.

The only way out is to get married, Clyde is definitely not happy. After all, this means that he will have to part with the dreams of a brilliant future that instilled in him a relationship with Sondra. Roberta in despair. She is ready to go on to tell about what happened Uncle Clyde. This would mean for him the end of his career and a cross on the affair with Sondra, but he shows indecision, hoping to come up with something. He promises Roberta to either find a doctor or, if he doesn’t find one in two weeks, marry her, even formally, and support her for a while until she can work.

But here Clyde catches the eye of a newspaper article telling about the tragedy on Lake Pass - a man and a woman took a boat to go for a ride, but the next day they found the boat turned upside down, and later found the body of the girl, but the man could not be found. This story makes a strong impression on him, especially since he receives a letter from Roberta, who left for her parents: she does not intend to wait any longer and promises to return to Lycurgus and tell everything to Griffiths Sr. Clyde realizes that he is running out of time and he must make some decision.

Clyde invites Robert to make a trip to the Big Bittern Lake, promising then to marry her. So, it seems that a terrible decision has been made, but he himself does not believe that he will find the strength in himself to implement his plan. It is one thing to commit murder in the imagination and quite another in reality.

And then Clyde and Roberta set off to ride a boat on a deserted lake. Clyde's gloomy-pensive look frightens Robert, she carefully approaches him, asks what happened to him. But when she tries to touch him, he, not remembering himself, hits her with a camera and pushes her so that she loses her balance and falls. The boat rolls over and its board hits Robert in the head. She begs Clyde to help her, not to let her drown, but he is inactive. What he thought more than once happened. He gets ashore alone, without Roberta.

But both the inverted boat and Roberta's body are quickly found. Investigator Haight and Attorney Mason vigorously take up the case and soon go out to Clyde. He is initially locked, but it is not difficult for an experienced prosecutor to drive him into a corner. Clyde is arrested - now his fate will be decided by the court.

Samuel Griffiths, of course, is shocked by what happened, however, he hires good lawyers. Those fight with all their might, but Mason knows his job. A long and tense trial ends with a death sentence. Wealthy relatives stop helping Clyde, and only his mother is trying to do something for him.

Clyde is being transferred to the Auburn prison, called the House of Death. Mother’s desperate attempts to find money to continue the struggle for her son’s life do not bring success. Society has lost interest in the convict, and now nothing will prevent the machine of justice from completing the case.