John Grey enlists when the Spanish-American War begins, not knowing that his sweetheart Mary is pregnant and then perishes before they can legalize their union. When Mary dies, her daughter Little Mary is taken into an orphanage and adopted by Peters, a cruel farmer who turns her into a slave. Befriended by Seppe, a hunchback farmhand of similar parentage, young Mary escapes to the city where she finds work at a hospital run by Dr. Strong. She falls in love with Strong's son Donald when he learns that she is illegitimate, he backs out of the engagement.