A gifted designer receives an invitation to study at a prestigious school, but her plans collapse when Damien's dying father uses a life-saving debt to force her into marriage. She is expected to devote herself to helping Damien. Her husband does not value her. He is tangled up with Emily and treats Catherine with contempt. When she finally decides to divorce him, he assumes this is a ploy to win him back and waits for her to beg for a remarriage.
She refuses to beg. She chooses a worthier partner and returns to the peak of her career. Damien loses everything, ends up on the streets, and dies in a tragic way. The story is a sharp reversal of a husband who could not see what he had until it was gone.
