The boy is a bachelor of thirty who by diligence and perseverance is on the road to success. He comes of a poor but hard-working family, his mother being a plain, old-fashioned home-loving body. The boy’s success gains him introduction into fashionable and aristocratic circles. He meets the girl and falls in love with her. She is selfish, proud, snobbish, and has a great contempt for her social inferiors. The boy presents her with an engagement ring, and tells her that he wants her to meet his old love, his mother. After many excuses, she finally consents and accompanies him to his mother’s cottage. There she views with haughty disdain the humble surroundings and the plain and simple mother who does everything in her power to win her future daughter-in-law’s affection. The girl treats the mother like a servant, and rebukes her severely when she accidentally spills some sugar on her dress. The old mother bursts into tears. The boy resents his fiancée’s treatment of his mother. She is furious that he should take sides against her, and in a rage demands that he choose between them. He hesitates a moment between the old love and the new, and then folds his old mother in his arms.