It concerns a notorious Creole woman, Clio Dulaine, who returns to her native New Orleans and marries a Texas gambler, Colonel Clint Maroon.

At the French marketplace, Clio stops to sample jambalaya and is immediately attracted to Clint Maroon, a tall Texan in a white hat, who is eating at the counter.

Although they are in love with each other, Clio, who is obsessed with her plans for revenge, intends to marry a rich and powerful man to prove that she is as good as her father's family.

To put an end to Clio's scheming, the Dulaines pay her $10,000 and agree to destroy the Rampart Street house and bury her mother in a New Orleans cemetery.

Privately, he explains that Bart owns a railroad, the Saratoga Trunk, which has increased in value to millions of dollars because it connects the Pennsylvania coal country with New York.

Clio poses as the widow of a French count, a claim that many doubt until she is unexpectedly backed up by socialite Mrs. Coventry Bellop, who intensely dislikes Van Steed's mother.