Plot

An engineer in New York is unhappily married to a politically ambitious wife. When their son dies due to his wife's neglect, he deserts her and goes to South America to help build a bridge. But he loses interest in life, starts drinking, and loses his job. As he is about to hit rock bottom, he meets a cabaret dancer named Carita who helps him recover. He falls in love with her. When his wife loses her senatorial race, she goes to South America to reunite with him. Carita mistakenly believes that he still loves his wife, and decides to kill herself.—scsu1975

In a mountain village in South America, Dr. McCoy and the padre watch Roger Drake enter a small chapel near a towering bridge, and McCoy recounts the story of Drake's life: As a rising engineer, he marries Janet Stone, the ambitious daughter of a wealthy family, and neglects his career while Janet becomes a candidate for the State Assembly. Drake comes into conflict with her political friends, and when their baby falls from its nursery window, the couple remorsefully decide to separate. Drake, degenerated by drink, goes to South America to construct a bridge; there he is stricken by fever and is redeemed by the love and care of Carita, a dancer. Carita, however, learns of Janet's political defeat and her attempt to effect a reconciliation with Drake; thinking he still loves his wife, she leaps from the bridge. Drake returns each year to the chapel he has erected in her memory.—AFI