John Harmon, in exile for many years, discovers that by a curious quirk in his father's will he must marry Bella Wilfer, a girl he has never met, in order to claim his inheritance. Mistakenly thought to have drowned, on his return he gains employment with the kindly Mr. Boffin under the assumed name of John Rokesmith and falls in love with the flighty and mercenary Bella who scornfully rejects him as a mere impoverished secretary. But Boffin and his wife contrive a plan to help John and show Bella the error of her ways.