After a betrayal and his wife’s departure, a respected English aristocrat, Sir Austin Feverel, decides to raise his son according to a certain System—he tries to make of him a “perfect man.” Young Richard grows up under round-the-clock supervision by his father, who not only controls every step he takes, but also artificially shields him from other people and from life itself, suppressing in him all aspirations and passions. But a loving father does not understand that, by practically every action of his, he only pushes his son toward tragedy…