Sidney Trefusis becomes a socialist, determined to overthrow a society riddled with class and sexual exploitation Son of a millionaire, he gives up everything to pose as an ''umble peasant' He abandons his adoring wife because social convention has made her fit for nothing except bearing children and arranging flowers He is determined to avoid romance but when he takes a job as a gardener he meets Agatha Wylie, one of the new breed of independent women