To remove forever anything that will remind him of his dream of happiness, shattered by his wife's infidelity, Stanley sends his infant daughter, Nan, to be cared for by a woman named Hopkins, sending money regularly for her support but never going to see her. Nan is treated as a slave, receiving none of the money intended for her. Then comes her first real happiness in the sincere love of Hal, a young reporter. Fearing to lose her, Mrs. Hopkins tells her there is mulatto blood in her veins. Crushed by the lie, Nan flees from the only home she has ever known. Ignorant of the world, she is carried by the tide of events unknowingly into what is termed a matrimonial agency, but which in reality is something worse. Then comes the big situation. Nan is placed at auction and her own father bids for her against other millionaires. As he outbids them all, Hal, who has traced her, enters, just in time to reveal to the father that Nan is his own daughter.