A woman, Celine, reacts with outrage upon receiving an invitation to a society event from the Hale family, viewing it as a public humiliation after being abandoned by them. Her mother, Mrs. Vance, has deliberately summoned Celine's grandmother to Oxwald to force a confrontation. While Mrs. Vance plots to make Celine apologize and secure a valuable dowry, Celine's cousin Elena attempts to placate the grandmother. In a flashback, Celine is verbally abused and coerced into drinking poison by an unseen man who favors Elena. Defiant in the present, Celine challenges her family's insults by invoking the dignity of the grandmother who raised her.