The old doctor of a small fishing village is entertaining one of his city friends, and, while sitting near the beach, the friend suddenly sees a young woman, prematurely grown old and gray, dressed in a wedding gown, with flowing veil, looking about as though waiting and watching for someone. Her peculiar actions and attire arouse the friend's curiosity, and the doctor volunteers to tell the unfortunate girl's story. At her mother's deathbed Katherine Crane assumes the care of her younger sister, Dora, and in order to maintain their little home and provide an education for Dora. Katherine does dressmaking. She sends the younger girl to a boarding school, where she enjoys life, heedless of the cost to Dora. The doctor loves Kate, but she rejects his proposal because she already loves Tom, the fisherman. Tom proposes, but Kate refuses to marry him until Dora is through school. After several years of toil for Katherine and pleasure for Dora, the younger girl comes home, and Katherine immediately accepts Tom's proposal and begins the making of her wedding dress. Dora returns and Tom is at once impressed with her. This admiration quickly grows into love, which is reciprocated by Dora, all unknown to the unsuspecting Katherine. And when Katherine's wedding dress is finished, Tom and Dora elope, leaving a note for her. The blow robs her of her reason, which materializes into an obsession that each day will be her wedding day, and attired in her gown and veil she haunts the beach, waiting and watching for the lover who never returns.
