A young girl is reared on a desert island by natives and led to believe that she is a goddess. One day an outsider comes to the island, and persuades her to accompany him to preach about the kindness and love she has experienced. She agrees, but she's soon confronted by the problems and travails of the "outside" world.

When Rupert's uncle tells him he must quit his writing and offers him a real job in his tannery, the young man rises in his wrath and dramatically leaves his uncle's home, saying that he will go forth to the big city and carve out his fortune with his pen. After many hardships and cold rebuffs from the cruel publishers and editors he begins to despair