 Flag Purdy, a "man of many principles" must learn the hard lesson of compromisation in order to keep his wife and children. The "final straw" comes when Flag s wife and children bring a Christmas tree into his house. Flag s principles will not allow such extravagances, and he destroys the tree. The next morning Flag s wife, Ada, and the children are gone. Flag learns his lesson in time for Christmas, and as Ada says, "A man with as many principles as Flag, some of them are bound to be wrong.".