Twenty-year-old Nora Marsh has lived all her sheltered life in the confines of her family's home in London. But, suddenly, seemingly-secure walls come crushing down and Nora loses her parents and goes from rich to destitute. She travels to the only safe haven she knows about, the Canadian farm of her brother Ed. There she meets Frank Taylor, working for her brother as a farm-hand in an effort to overcome his own monetary loss the preceding winter. Nora quarrels with Ed's wife, "Gertie", and she asks Frank to take her away. And just as it appears the newly-weds are about to make a life of their own on his farm, tragedy strikes.