Jessie Ridgley pines for the broader opportunities of city life. Her mother has been blind since the birth of Jessie. John Ridgley, the father, shields the mother in every way possible. Jessie rebels and claims they do not understand her. Her father pleads with her to remain, and her blind mother, getting an inkling of the situation, declares that she could not survive the shock if Jessie left. The mother's fear of the city is increased by the fact that Jessie's aunt disappeared in her youth in the same manner and has never returned. Despite the efforts of Bob Fillmore, son of a wealthy neighbor, to restrain her, Jessie departs for the city. Various excuses are made to the blind mother to explain the absence of Jessie, but they fear the result of the shock when she ultimately discovers the truth. It happens that Society Red, a crook, has a motherless daughter. Mollie, whom he compels to aid him in his nefarious calling, much against her better nature. The crooks attempt the robbery of Ridgley's house and are caught by the detectives whom Ridgley has hired to find Jessie. Mollie is also captured, and noting her strong resemblance to Jessie, Mollie is passed off on the blind mother as her real daughter, Jessie. The crook, Society Red, gets a long prison term. Later Jessie is killed in an auto accident in the city and Mollie permanently takes her place in the Ridgley family. In time Bob falls in love with her and they become engaged to marry. Sickness overtakes Society Red in prison. He makes a death-bed confession that it was he who married Jessie's aunt and it transpired that Mollie's resemblance to the family is because she is really the niece of the Ridgleys. The gentle conspiracy is maintained and the knowledge of her real daughter's death is kept from the blind mother.