Richard Stowe deserts his wife. Unable to support both their baby and herself, the wife leaves the child on the steps where the pious old Thomas Drake is bell-ringer and organ pumper. The old man finds the baby girl and brings her up as his own child. When she reaches young womanhood, she is wooed by Henry Sterling, son of the old bell-ringer’s dearest friend, Amos Sterling. One day Richard Stowe returns, now affluent, and calls at the office of Amos Sterling, where he sees Henry and the girl. He makes friends with her and they learn to love each other. At last he interviews the old bell-ringer, intending to ask her hand in marriage. When he hears the truth from the old man’s lips and reads the note the girl’s foster father found pinned to the baby’s dress, he recognizes his wife’s handwriting. Grief-stricken, he tells the old man his story and departs, leaving a large check for the girl when she becomes the wife of Henry Sterling.