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In 1825, New Orleans cotton magnate Sebastian Girard dies, and his will stipulates that his widow Agnes and their three sons, Richard, Carlos and John, must merge the family business with the company belonging to Englishman Gabriel Warburton.  The new firm, which is intended to heal breaches caused by the War of 1812, will have offices in the United States, England, France and Prussia, the latter two of which will be run by Carlos and John.  When the families gather to cement their relationship, Richard falls in love with Gabriel's wife Mary.  Agreeing that the security of the family comes first, the would-be lovers deny their feelings and part.

By 1914, four generations of the family have worked hard and the business is an enormous success.  The families again assemble in New Orleans, where the attendees include English Sir John Warburton and his daughter Mary, the German Baron and Baroness von Gerhardt and their sons Erik and Fritz, and French Madame Girard and her children Henri, Jeanne and Jacques.  Their American hosts are Charles Girard and his son Richard, who falls in love with Mary even though she is engaged to Erik.  Mary reciprocates his feelings and is confused by his coldness later at the marriage of Fritz and Jeanne in Germany.  Richard is distraught by the talk of Mary and Erik's upcoming wedding, and in his anguish he goes with Henri to Paris, where Henri joins the army and Richard joins the French Foreign Legion when the war starts.

Soon after, Charles and John are on an ocean liner that is sunk by a German submarine captained by Fritz, which is in turn torpedoed by an Allied destroyer.  Mary, who was released from her engagement to Erik when he realized that she loved Richard, is glad to see Richard when he comes to visit, but refuses his request to have the factories produce munitions.  After a horrifying experience in the trenches, Richard returns to Mary and the couple are married.

Richard goes back to the front, where he is wounded and taken prisoner.  He is allowed to live with the von Gerhardts and witnesses the hardships inflicted by the war on the common German people.  When the war finally ends, Richard goes home to Mary, and they settle in New York.  By 1925, a lust for money and power has consumed Richard, and Mary is distraught over the changes in him.  The horrors of war have made Henri seek peace in the priesthood, while his brother Jacques has grown up to be a cynic.

Richard's world collapses with the stockmarket in 1929, and the family business is extinguished except for the English branch, which was saved by Mary's quick action.  The family meets one last time, and when Jacques and Erik state that the world needs another war, the pregnant Mary rebukes them.  As she condemns their militarism, she thinks of Hitler, Mussolini and various armies preparing for war.  Mary and Richard then move to the old house in New Orleans, which has been tended by Richard's former war companion, Dixie.  As the couple plan the nursery, they admire the crucifix in the family room and pray for peace.