Years after being pushed out of her husbands life, a woman befriends her long lost son.
In 1909 at Eastmore College, Bob Kelsey, a boy from a wealthy family, tells his parents that he plans to marry Ellen Holmes, a young woman from the lower class. After the couple are married they have a baby and name him Chris. Bob and Ellen live with the Kelsey family even though Ellen wants a home of their own. Because of the Kelsey's interference, Bob asks Ellen for a divorce. Wanting the best for her son, Ellen agrees to let the Kelseys rear Chris. Over the years she works at a number of menial jobs and eventually returns to Eastmore to work as a "biddy" or cleaning woman. In 1930, Chris, now a young man who believes his mother is dead, attends the college and he is assigned to a room that Ellen cleans. Ellen favors Chris and encourages him to join the football team. The semester ends and when the students return, Chris is assigned to a different building. Ellen persuades Carter, the head janitor, to change her building assignment, but when she asks the same favor a second time, in order to follow Chris when he changes his room again, she is fired. With the help of the dean's sympathetic wife, Ellen is rehired and assigned to Chris's building. Then, Ellen discovers a photograph of Patty, the daughter of her former roommate, Maggie O'Day, in Chris's belongings. Ellen warns Patty about the Kelsey family, but Patty remains steadfast and accepts Chris's marriage proposal. In hopes of breaking the couple's engagement, Bob invites Chris to travel with him for a year. When Ellen learns this, she confronts him and tells him that he has made their son into a cowardly, spineless snob. The next day, during the football game, after repeatedly fumbling, Chris flees the field and is met outside the stadium by Ellen, who tells him that he must not run from either the game or Patty. When Chris tells Bob that he will accompany him if Patty is allowed to join them, Bob reveals his true motive. Shocked, Chris and Patty leave together for a job in Chicago, far away from the Kelseys, and Ellen sees them off at the railroad station.
