The dissolution of an 18-year marriage, seen first from his point-of-view and then from hers.

Poet Elizabeth Barrett is slowly recovering from a crippling illness with the help of her siblings, especially her youngest sister, Henrietta. When she meets fellow poet Robert Browning, her heart belongs to him. However, her controlling father has no intention of allowing her out of his sight.

Hildy, the journalist former wife of newspaper editor Walter Burns, visits his office to inform him that she’s engaged and will be getting remarried the next day. Walter can’t let that happen and frames the fiancé, Bruce Baldwin, for one thing after another, to keep him temporarily held in prison, while trying to steer Hildy into returning to her old job as his employee.