During World War I, the Countess Celeste de Berseck et Krymn flees her native Belgium in order to escape forced marriage with a German prince. Furious, Celeste's traitorous Uncle Dyreck pursues her to the United States, and when she realizes that he is on her train, she departs at the nearest station, Greenwood, Tennessee, and runs straight into the arms of the wealthy Robert Lawrence. Promising to protect her, Robert takes the countess to Steve Budd's cabin and then goes in search of Uncle Dyreck. Celeste befriends a young boy named Bill, who asks her to accompany him to Granny White's house, where his mother is having a baby, and as the two are leaving, the Budd cabin is hit and completely destroyed by lightning. Upon his return, Robert assumes the worst, and Uncle Dyreck, believing his niece to be dead, returns to Belgium. Robert is overjoyed to find Celeste and Bill at Granny White's, and after the countess discovers that Robert loves her, she happily bids farewell to her title and prepares to become an American housewife.