William Oglesby, the editor of the Oglesburg Clarion , strives to keep alive the spirit of the antebellum South and is furious when the townspeople warmly welcome New York businessman and philanthropist Thomas Foster. Oglesby stubbornly resists the Northerner's influence on the town, but when his daughter Edith falls in love with Foster's son and when even his wife Sylvia becomes enthralled with Foster's progressive ideas, he finally relents and accepts the new order.