City pediatrician Audrey Hayes enjoys a happy marriage with her rural-born husband, Colin Vance—until she gets pregnant. Colin invites his mother, Agatha Vance, to help out, but the ignorant, old-fashioned woman mercilessly bullies Audrey. Agatha even spikes Audrey's food with a potion meant to change the baby's gender, tragically poisoning her and causing a miscarriage. Fed up with Colin's cowardly inaction and blind loyalty to his mother, Audrey gets help from her brother, Henry Hayes, to divorce Colin and focus on her career.