Little Elsie, scarcely two years of age, awakens one morning and crawls out of the house, dragging her doll. The little tot creeps to the nearby railroad station and resumes her nap in one of the flower beds. Mrs. Hastings, a wealthy widow, is taking an early morning train, after having spent several weeks at an eastern summer resort. She reaches the station before train time and while strolling about, she discovers little Elsie. While she is fondling the little one, the train arrives and Mrs. Hastings, who has no child of her own, cannot master the temptation to take this baby with her. Upon arriving in the west, Mrs. Hastings learns from a newspaper of the strange disappearance of Elsie Mason. Her first impulse is to communicate with the Masons, but she destroys her letter and preserves the news item. Twenty years later we see that Elsie has grown to young womanhood and now bears the name of Christine Hastings. She leads a happy life with her foster mother, who all these years has kept her secret. During an afternoon tea, Mrs. Hastings' nephew, Jack, arrives on the scene and soon falls in love with the charming young woman. Mrs. Hastings is taken seriously ill and her secret preys upon her mind. She calls Christine to her bedside and shows her the old news item. Soon afterward she dies and Christine, believing her place is with her parents, leaves a note for Jack and returns to her eastern home, where she takes up the simple life on the farm. But Jack cannot forget. When he finds the note he journeys to the east and gains Christine's promise.