The widow Ma Birdsong is devoted to her two teenage children, Jimmy and Essie. They live on New York's Lower East Side, and against her mother's wishes, Essie gets a job as a theater usher. The girl becomes involved with Joe Ullman, a young man of questionable morals.—Ulf Kjell Gür

Ma Birdsong, her son Jimmie, and her daughter Essie live together in New York City's East Side. Essie, enamored with the city's night life, becomes an usherette in a cheap theater where she falls in love with Joe Ullman, a crooked ticket speculator. Her ailing mother repeatedly asks to meet Essie's fiancé, but Joe always has a ready excuse to decline. Following a heart attack, Ma makes another plea to meet Joe. Essie finds him in a poolroom, but he scornfully refuses to accompany her. In desperation, Essie relates her story to a stranger; he agrees to pose as the girl's fiancé for the sake of her mother. Ma Birdsong dies, secure in the thought that Essie is to marry "a real man." Essie later falls in love with the stranger and they marry.—AFI