Billy, Olive and other children are playing on the lawn when the picture opens. Billy is unusually downhearted; he is muchly smitten with Olive and she, on the other hand, will have none of him. The other children have sweethearts; Billy has none. About this time an old soldier, who has seen service in the war, observes Billy and wonders at the close resemblance of the child to his own who has just died. His old heart softens to Billy and, giving the children some sweets, he takes Billy to his home, where he shows him the toys which belonged to his dead son. He gives Billy the toy rifle and drills him to become a soldier. Billy’s mother, looking for him, meets the other children and they inform her that Billy was taken away by an old man. The mother becomes frantic and she seeks the assistance of the neighbors to find the boy. Meantime the old soldier arranges the toy soldiers on the floor and commences the story of his life, how, when he was a boy, he was stationed at a small fort on the plains when it was attacked by Indians. He was in love with his Colonel’s daughter, but it was not until he had shown his heroism by going for assistance when the fort seemed doomed that the Colonel consented to the match. Billy listened to this story with eyes and mouth wide open. During this time the mother and neighbors have been hunting furiously for Billy. The old soldier and Billy, tiring of the play, finally drop off to sleep. Billy dreams of what the old soldier has related. He sees himself arrive at the fort and become smitten with the Colonel’s daughter, and the same incidents which the old man experienced the boy goes through in his dream. The mother has located the house belonging to the soldier and dashes in. What she finds is her son fast asleep in the lap of the old man with his arms fast around the old man’s neck. She understands and tiptoes out of the scene as it fades.