Mary Fleming, who is on trial for killing her consumptive child, describes on the witness stand the way in which she and her brother Jimmie were placed in an orphanage after their parents died and lived under brutally harsh conditions. Jimmie escaped and Mary has not seen him for years. In the end, however, her brother enters the courtroom, now a lawyer and a surprise member of Mary's defense team. After an emotional reunion between sister and brother, the latter proves that Mary's child died of starvation and then exposes the owner of the orphanage as a fraud and a white slaver.