Geoffrey West is smitten by Marion Larned, whom he sees in a London restaurant reading the personal or "agony" column, and places an ad asking her for an introduction. Her response that he must write her a letter each day for a week to prove that his acquaintance would be interesting prompts him to write her a fascinating tale about the murder of an English army captain. When Geoffrey finally confesses to the murder, Marion tries to protect him from the law, but with the sudden outbreak of World War I, her father puts her on the next boat back to the United States. Geoffrey catches the boat and there confesses to Marion that the whole story was a fiction invented to win her love.