Oliver Beresford is a stern, Puritanical, uncompromisingly rigid father. When shameful stories about his daughter Judith surface, he instantly bans her from his home rather than determine whether the stories are true. Her brother David, a pusillanimous reprobate, has secretly married and fathered, then abandoned, a child. Judith takes care of the baby and finds a way to restore her family through the love for the child.