Steve Mallory loses his memory as a result of an automobile accident beside a river. His Aunt Catherine Parsons picks him up and takes him to the family home. He learns that his wife, Alexandria, is planning to leave him because of his drinking and that Catherine's son Oliver expects Steve to sell him the family china manufacturing firm. During the next 3 days, Steve's past is revealed: Steve married Alexandria, daughter of Austin Parsons, the now paralyzed family patriarch. Austin planned to leave his china manufacturing firm to his nephew Oliver but changed his mind after the marriage and instead made Steve chief executive. Steve made plans to modernize the company and prevented its sale, increasing Oliver's enmity. Steve learns that Holly Mitchell, a cocktail waitress, was in the car with him when it crashed, and she dies in a hospital. Lester Aldrich, Holly's husband and a pianist at the bar where she worked, joins Oliver in attempting to frame Steve for Holly's death. Steve is arrested, and Alexandria is abducted by Aldrich, who has threatened to kill her to avenge Holly's death; but Steve, aided by Catherine, escapes in time to save Alexandria. Aldrich admits that Holly drowned herself, and he is arrested.