A philanthropic but not very practical woman is admired by a rugged doctor who in serving the poor finds in a tenement house the sister of the philanthropist. She is in poor mental and physical health and her baby son is not properly cared for. The doctor gives the child into the rich woman's care and the mother disappears. The rich woman neglects the child, and finally it wanders to the neighborhood of its old home. The boy's mother, who is now definitely demented, finds him, and loses him again, the last time by death. Then she reveals her identity to her sister. Conscience stricken, the rich woman promises to make amends.