Charming, headstrong young Elizabeth Blair (Shirley Temple) lives at the Lakeside Orphanage where her sister, Mary (Rochelle Hudson), works in the kitchen. Mary writes songs that Elizabeth sings. The child's performance and her spirit impress a young, wealthy trustee, Edward Morgan (John Boles), who poses as a lawyer with an offer of adoption for Elizabeth, but she won't leave without her sister. Edward decides to bring them both to his mansion, and soon begins to fall in love with Mary.