Well-to-do Mr. and Mrs. Gilton live next door to a large family, the Biltons, that struggles to make ends meet. Despite their desire to be friendly, Mr. Gilton is frequently irritated by his neighbors, insisting that they stay out of his yard, and blaming them for anything that goes wrong. During the holiday season, the differences between the two families become even clearer. Mrs. Gilton wants to do something to help the Biltons, but Mr. Gilton will take a lot of convincing.

News is received by Sir Jeoffrey, a dissolute roué, whose contempt for the other sex extends even to his own daughters, of the arrival of another female child in the family. The mother dies shortly after, and the child, Clorinda, is brought up among the servants without a guiding hand. True to his vow to ignore his offspring, Sir Jeoffrey does not come in contact with Clo, until her sixth year, when he finds her playing with his powder horn in the great hall of his castle, Wildair, and sternly upbraids her.

Here with the Edison Company -- most notably Charles Ogle as the usurer -- we see a 'typical' case of the victims of usury. Although offered as a 'realistic' view of the effects of usury, it veers frequently into melodrama.

In the first scene we see a group of children at a window waiting for the arrival of their father. Following this we learn that the little family lacks a mother. The next scene brings us to a theater-box party. The father of the little family meets another woman. It soon becomes evident that he intends to marry again and at last he brings this other woman to the house. While he is present, she seems to be fond of the children, but once he is out of the room we see that her fondness is hardly skin-deep. Soon the mother's picture is removed from over the fireplace and evidently the new wedding will take place. Little Margaret, taking care of the children, finds them hard to amuse one day, and going up into the garret, finds some old clothes, in which they all dress. By chance she puts on the very costume which was used when her mother posed for the big portrait, now absent from its place over the mantel, and so it happens that when the father comes home at night.

Billie is the "little mother" of the family and cares for the two smaller children. Her father has fallen under the spell of drink. Billie has become hardened by her struggle against the drink demon in her father and treats him with scant consideration.