Is love really worth any price? After being driven from his home in Vermont by a mother perched on the edge of insanity and another money-grubbing old woman who won't let him marry the woman he loves, Sheridan Baird seeks his fortune in the steel mills in Pittsburgh. But when his worst fears come true and his love marries another, he wonders if it wouldn't have been better to have perished in the Civil War like his brothers. Then, he meets the attractive and sophisticated Elinor Taylor from Manhattan. Encouraged by the death wish of a good friend and in a reckless bid to seize control of his fortunes, Sheridan moves to Brooklyn, New York, to try to win her heart. Things rarely go according to plan, and he ends up fighting, not only for Elinor's love but also for his very life. Elinor Taylor, the daughter of a wealthy financier from Manhattan, chafes under the constraints of upper-class society. When her parents take it upon themselves to find her a husband from among the snobby, self-important New York elite, she rebels by providing her own bachelor to court. Things veer off course when he falls in love with her, and Elinor and her parents spend Christmas in Pittsburgh, where she meets Sheridan Baird, a steelworker from Vermont. Now, she must determine if she should settle for a safe marriage to a good man from a Knickerbocker family or chase her dream of marrying a man she can both love and respect.