The Custom of the Country

The Spraggs, a family of midwesterners from the fictional city of Apex who have made money through somewhat shady financial dealings, arrive in New York City at the prompting of their beautiful, ambitious, but socially naive daughter, Undine. She marries Ralph Marvell, a member of an old New York family that no longer enjoys significant wealth. Before her wedding, Undine encounters an acquaintance from Apex named Elmer Moffatt, a character with “a genuine disdain for religious piety and social cant,” as the scholar Elaine Showalter observes. Undine begs him not to do anything that will endanger her wedding to Ralph. Elmer agrees, but it is not made clear exactly what threat he might present. That the threat might be serious is indicated by Elmer's ability to pressure Undine's father into assisting him with an investment, despite the fact that Mr. Spragg's own fortunes are unstable.