Paul Renard (Phillips Holmes) has returned from World War I triumphant, but is haunted by the death of a German soldier at his hands. Determined to make amends, he travels to the dead man's hometown and meets his former fiancee, Elsa (Nancy Carroll), and grieving father (Lionel Barrymore). Rather than reveal his true identity, Paul tells the two that he was a former friend of the deceased soldier. As Elsa and Paul draw closer and the family embraces him as one of their own, Paul's conscience is torn between revealing his past guilt and embracing a future he never knew possible.