The Galley Slave plot
Francesca Brabaut, who married an artist against her father's advice, regrets her decision when her indebted husband, Antoine, sends her to his misanthropic uncle to ask for money. After Francesca refuses the uncle's offer to amend his will if she will have sex with him, the uncle, who declares he misjudged women, decides to leave money to provide for Francesca and her child, but dies first of heart failure. Antoine inherits a castle and a title and abandons Francesca. Later, while posing for an American artist in Florence, Francesca meets the artist's lover, the American heiress Cecily Blaine, whose mother wants her to marry a titled man.