A single mother is overprotective of her mentally challenged son, which has made him angry and difficult, while she denies herself a social life. Things change for the better when the boy gains self-esteem training for the Special Olympics, and his mother learns to let go.

Marian Rose White is placed in a State Home for the feeble-minded by her uncaring mother when her father dies. She is a young teenager and there is nothing wrong with her except for some clumsiness, mostly caused by poor vision. State law (in 1934) requires sterilization of all inmates. Sympathetic nurse, Bonnie McNeil, befriends Marian and protests her treatment.