Seduced and abandoned by her feckless lover, Esther is forced to bring up her child alone. Her life is hard--she is first employed as a wet-nurse by heartless Mrs. Rivers, then becomes the virtual slave of miserly Mrs. Bingley. But Esther has her faith and the love of her child to support her. And when she accidentally meets her son's father again, now a rich man who wants to marry her, it seems that her fight for happiness is finally at an end.