Plot

Ruth Dayton, though she was smiled at by her friends, and regarded as having reached that stage of life when heart affairs had ceased to trouble her, was nevertheless not lost to possibilities. She was of a philanthropic turn of mind and in her work in the poorer districts at last found herself a victim of the tender passion. She took an interest in a man who was left a widower, and who had one little daughter. He was a victim of alcohol but Ruth perceived in him the makings of a new man, and although he tore his child away and first resented her efforts to assist him, yet in the end, she succeeded in persuading him that self-respect was his privilege and not merely a chance possession of life. It was his right and his duty to respect himself. And more than that the good-hearted woman was instrumental in obtaining for him a position of trust and responsibility, in which he made good. He was so earnest and so successful in his new life that he became a totally changed man with a bright outlook for the future. And his gratitude was his strong point. He was not slow to appreciate the kindliness of the hand which had helped him to do all this. Indeed, he fell sincerely in love with Ruth and when he made the admission of his regard for her, he was very agreeably surprised that Ruth in her turn, had all along taken more than a merely philanthropic interest in his fortune. So this old maid's romance culminated in her marrying the former widower and becoming a second mother to his little daughter, of whom she was already very fond.—Moving Picture World synopsis