Virginia Clerson lives in sordid surroundings with her drunken father, her thieving brother Frank and her wastrel sister Laura. Deciding to take a different path, Virginia runs away from her unhappy home and obtains work in a millinery factory, telling her employer, Frederick Parker, that her relatives are all dead. Virginia works hard, soon becoming superintendent of the factory, and Frederick falls in love with her. She rescues Laura from her lot as a scrubwoman, but just as Virginia and Frederick are to be married, Frank appears and reveals his sister's past.