After the death of her father, a friend hides Dimples' inheritance in a doll, which Dimples carries to her new home at her aunt's boardinghouse. Meanwhile, having just ended his engagement to Eugenia Abbott and now looking for rest and relaxation, the wealthy Robert Stanley also becomes a boarder at the aunt's, and he and Dimples quickly fall in love. Then a stock market panic puts a severe strain on Robert's assets, and he must get a lot of cash in order to avoid a disaster. Dimples finds out, takes the money from the doll, gives it to Robert's broker and, as a result, saves her sweetheart's financial empire. Once again solvent, Robert can let his mind move back to romance, and so he and Dimples start planning their marriage.

Four-year-old Dorothy, the daughter of rich lawyer Winfred North, is inconsolable over her mother's recent death. Her father, too absorbed with business to pay attention to his daughter and her problems, marries Helen Stillwell, a widow with her own two children. Helen ignores Dorothy while taking care of her own children, treating Dorothy as if she's always "in the way". Finally Dorothy can take no more and runs away. She is found by the Goodwins, a married missionary couple, but when they bring her home, Helen Stillwell denies knowing Dorothy at all, seeing a chance for her own children to inherit Winfred's wealth and cut Dorothy out of the picture altogether. The Goodwins take Dorothy to Africa with them to bring Christianity to the natives, but matters don't work out quite as well as they expected.