Mike Brackauer shrugs off his success as an artist, feeling that his rise to fame has been based on technical proficiency without any deep creative talent. He becomes increasingly moody over his failure to inject what he terms "the spark of life" into his paintings. His confidence in himself is suddenly restored when a department stor salesgirl tells him she can hear the sound of waves breaking when she looks at one of his seascape paintings. A short time later they fall in love and plan marriage until Brackauer's confidence again leaves him.