The story opens in a New York tenement where Miss Leonard is living in hopes of finding the means to support herself and little baby. A month before her husband had been killed in a mine accident and Miss Leonard sought the city, leaving her child m the care of a neighbor. She is aroused by a knock on the door. A youth of the underworld, struck with her beauty, has followed her home. He tells her where she can secure work. When he offers her money to pay for a new dress, she understands, and drives him from the room. Another knock. It is her landlord. She must pay her rent in the morning. Her eye falls on the card left by the "cadet." and makes a desperate decision that will change her life.