Southport, and the first families of Virginia, in a present- day portrait which sometimes loses track of its story but stresses centuries of graceful living and social snobbery of a southern small town. The decision, prompted by spite, of Celia Lathrop, high-handed and headstrong, to Marry Tom Warren, is the pivotal point. Doubtful that he wants her now that he has won her, Tom turns to Cherry Keane, girl in the flower shop, and eventually Cherry is revealed as also a Lathrop, reviving an old scandal and tragedy. Romance.