The Vanity Pool plot
Gerald Harper, a candidate for governor, persuades his equally ambitious wife Carol to enlist the help of her friend Diana Casper, whose influence with political boss Jarvis Flint could help him win the election. Carol agrees to talk to Diana on the condition that Gerald temporarily take her job in the city's tenements. There he meets the poor but beautiful Marna Royal, and the two form a friendship that soon blossoms into love. Diana learns of the affair, and although the romance is innocent, it threatens to ruin Gerald unless his best friend, Drew Garrett, marries her.