Harry is in love with Rita; she plays the harp, but she is not as talented as he is with the fiddle, and nor does she have poverty to conquer. Rita is interested primarily in a good marriage, and she fulfils this dream by carefully rejecting Harry and marrying Ralph Everett, an engineer who dreams of being a writer. Harry remains good friends with the couple through the years; he works with orchestras and plays concerts, but whenever he's in Buffalo he stays with the Everetts. Ralph has set a punishing routine for himself; he works at the Water Department, and still wakes up every morning at four to get his writing done. Rita has utter faith in him even as he longs for fame and recognition for his writing. On one of his visits, Harry meets Mr. Everett, Ralph's aged father. The old man believes in the American Dream, where one must scrape and struggle to earn and provide for a family, and not be hindered by the government; he also scorns his son's dream of becoming an author. Harry can sense that Ralph desperately wants his father's approval even though he knows he will never get it. Mr. Everett isn't the only one who is skeptical; Ralph's friend, Ed, teases him mercilessly, but Ralph is sure that his work will be successful. Finally, his dream is realised - a publishing agent in New York picks up a book, and Ralph catapults to fame overnight. The Everetts are now rich, but Ralph is displeased with his success because the editors had him change his novel to include tropes that would increase readership by pandering to the audience. He believes it is a betrayal of his creative genius, and loathes the critics that lavish empty praise on him. Then a young critic, new on the scene, dares to write an article that paints Ralph as a writer who is either untalented or the victim of the American publishing industry - this grants Ralph a moment of clarity. He drives up to Buffalo once again and retreats to the old toolhouse in which he did all his writing. When Harry comes by to pick him up, he finds that the toolhouse burnt down while Ralph was still inside. Rita is struck with grief, but as time passes, she recovers and agrees to marry Harry. Ralph's four daughters go with them to the cinema to see the movie that comes out based on Ralph's novel, and they are reminded that all their wealth and comfort comes from their father's hard work.