Paula Power, daughter of a wealthy railroad tycoon, inherited De Stancy Castle, an ancient castle in need of modernization. She instructs a young London architect, George Somerset, to do this work. Somerset falls in love with Paulo. But Paula, the Laodicean title, referring to a person with a warm or indecisive soul, is torn between the admiration of George and the admiration of Captain de Stancy, whose romanticism in the old world contrasts with Somerset’s visionary gaze.