A ruthless stockbroker sells short in the copper business and ruins the life of his friends by ruining their finances.
In the English countryside, young woman Mary Viner has an opportunity to marry Arnold Furze, the hard working but lonely owner of the oddly named Doomsday Farm. He sacrifices a treasured stand of old trees to afford to bring the farm up-to-date for her, but when she considers the hard work she'll do, marries the rich but otherwise inadequate local banker, to her regret.
Judith Wheater年纪轻轻便担任起了一家之主的重任——她如今的父母因为先前多次离婚各有不少孩子，如今他们一家一共有7个孩子，包括年芳17的Judith。七个孩子尽管父母各异，但如今的关系宛如一奶同胞，甚是亲密。可惜好景不长，如今Wheater夫妇又在闹离婚，七个孩子虽不愿分离却也毫无办法
一次偶然的机会，Judith遇到了父亲的大学同学Martin Boyne。Martin对Judith和孩子们的遭遇表示理解，并承诺会尽最大可能劝劝自己的老同学。短暂的几日相处之后，Judith发现自己爱上了这位大自己不少的男士，但她不知道的是，Martin早已和一位寡妇订了婚
