Charlie Wales is an American businessman who makes his fortune in the booming stock market of the 1920s. He and his wife, Helen, move to Paris, where they get enmeshed in glittering excess. Ultimately, the Wales’s lifestyle catches up to them. Charlie develops an alcohol addiction, and a rift grows in the marriage. When Helen goes home with another man, Charlie locks her out of the house. She contracts pneumonia in the cold, and she later dies. When the market crashes, Charlie sobers up and moves to Prague. Two years later, he returns to Paris. He stops at a bar that he and Helen had frequented. Once packed with moneyed clientele, it is now deserted. The bartender, Paul, explains that most of Charlie’s former friends have left Paris. Charlie then visits Helen’s sister, Marion Peters. She and her husband, Lincoln, have custody of Honoria, Charlie and Helen’s daughter. Father and daughter spend the following days together in the changed city. On one of their outings, Charlie bumps into Duncan and Lorraine, two friends from his partying days. They insist that he go out with them. Back at the Peters household, Charlie explains to his in-laws that he’s cleaned up his act and he's ready to take Honoria back to Prague. He convinces Lincoln easily enough, but Marion is reluctant to relinquish the child. She still thinks Charlie is irresponsible, and she blames him for her sister’s death. Finally, Lincoln agrees to let Charlie take Honoria. As they make arrangements for the move, Lorraine and Duncan bluster into the house. The drunken pair got the Peters’ address from Paul, and they want to take Charlie out for drinks. He declines the invitation and tells them to leave, but the damage is done. Marion is furious, and she kicks Charlie out. He bids farewell to his daughter and returns to the bar. On a phone call, Lincoln suggests that Charlie wait a few months before trying to take Honoria again. Charlie stares at a whiskey glass, wondering when it filled with loneliness instead of liquor.