In rural Georgia, Claudelle Inglish is the daughter of poor tenant farmers, Clyde and Jessie Inglish. A shy girl, Claudelle is just at the age where she is receiving boy callers for the first time, while some of her peers are already getting married. Clyde wants Claudelle to be happy, eventually to marry for love as he and Jessie did, they who started dating when they were Claudelle's age. Claudelle also wants this for her life. However, Jessie hates their life, and doesn't want Claudelle to fall into the same trap as she did. As such, Jessie does whatever she can to make Claudelle end up with someone wealthy, that person specifically being widowed S.T. Crawford. S.T., who has long had his eye on Claudelle as the second Mrs. Crawford, is the Inglish's landowner, the wealthiest man in the region, old enough to be Claudelle's father, and someone Claudelle has no interest in whatsoever. Things change for Claudelle when she suffers romantic heartache for the first time. She decides to take her heartache out on the male population in general by becoming the harlot - acting and dressing seductively - in turn breaking the hearts of all the men who desire her. Claudelle's self-destructive behavior has its intended result with some tragic consequences.
—Huggo