Big-hearted Prue, living in the slums, and Danny O'Maddigan, a reformed crook, want to buy a birthday cake for Prue's 75-year-old grandmother. They live across the hall from Ellen Rutherford, the destitute widow of Steven Rutherford, Jr., who was disinherited by his father, a wealthy candy manufacturer. Prue, who works at the candy factory, gives Ellen the money that was meant for her grandmother's cake so Ellen will be able to care for her son Bobby. Frustrated over the loss of the money, Danny steals the price of a cake from the factory's safe, leaving the safe's door open in his haste to depart.

At her mother’s behest Kate Leigh marries wealthy Basil Kildare, owner of a Southern plantation called Storm. When Basil’s servant and mistress Mahaly protests bitterly he takes their shared son away from her. Kate discovers her new husband is a coarse and brutal alcoholic and turns for friendship to Dr. Jacques Benoix and his mother. When Basil becomes aware of their relationship, he finds the doctor and they have a brutal fight. Later Basil is found dead and Jacques is sentenced to life in prison. On her deathbed, Mahaly confesses that she killed Basil, leaving Kate and Jacques to begin a new life together.

A daughter is grief-stricken by the loss of her father. His male friend becomes her guardian, and she is taken to live with the friend's mother. Time passes and romance blossoms in the girl's heart for her guardian. However, a love rival arrives from the city and catches his eye, and the drama unfolds.

While playing cards, Col. Francis Fielding is unjustly accused of cheating by the Earl of St. Albans. The charges are considered so serious in that strata of society that Fielding is disowned by his parents and held in contempt by "proper" society. Fleeing to Paris, Fielding marries and fathers a baby daughter he names Leonore. His wife soon dies and he is forced to raise the girl on his own, alone and broke. He soon dies, and Leonore is adopted by his sister Lady Mountstephen, but it's not much of an improvement: the "lady" hates Leonore, treats her badly and finally disowns her. Things look grim for Leonore until Lord Fitzmaurice loans her a sum of money. Unfortunately, that deed arouses the anger of the wildly jealous Lady Norton, who is secretly married to him. Complications ensue.