Circus dancer Babette learns from Zaidee, her fortune-teller mother, that her father is the respected businessman Ezra Butterworth, who had deserted Zaidee years before and then remarried. After Zaidee dies, Babette goes to live with Ezra, but fearful that his second wife will learn of his less-than-upright past, he takes her in as his ward and forbids her to mention their real relationship.