Girl Loves Boy

In a small New England town, students give a recital to celebrate the end of the 1907 school year. The attention of wealthy Charles Conrad is caught by the McCarthy family, whose proud matriarch, Mary, struggles as a seamstress to support her children Dorothy, Tim, Ned and Penny. Conrad offers to provide Dorothy, a talented pianist, with a musical education, but Mary refuses to accept charity and, much to Dorothy's disappointment, turns Conrad down. When Conrad returns home, he finds his profligate son Robert, who has been dismissed from yet another college, waiting for him. Conrad is dismayed to meet Sally, whom Robert introduces as his wife, and he points out that Sally is a gold digger. Sally is irritated to learn that Robert's only source of income will be the $5,000 inheritance from his late mother, which he will receive when he is twenty-one. Sally accepts Conrad's offer of $1,500 and leaves, promising that she will let Robert file for an annulment. Robert soon feels the effects of the scandal upon his reputation when he encounters Dorothy, with whom he went to eighth grade. While she allows him to escort her home, she refuses to go for a drive with him later, despite their mutual attraction. Disgusted by Robert's laziness, Conrad makes his son take a job at Gus Wilkey's general store. After Robert helps the McCarthy children buy a present for Mary's birthday, Dorothy thanks Robert and explains that she cannot go out with him since he is a married man. Robert dismisses his marriage as a trifle, which shocks Dorothy. She is nonetheless charmed by him when later he asks her family over to dinner, where the other guest is the world-renowned pianist Signor Luigi Montefiori. After dinner, Montefiori is thrilled to hear Dorothy play, and he persuades Mary to let him tutor Dorothy for free. Time passes as Dorothy and Robert become more involved. One night just before Christmas, the young couple is kissing on the couch, when Conrad comes in and dismisses Dorothy, since he distrusts Robert's intentions. Robert tells his father that he loves Dorothy and will prove it to him and to her. Soon after, young Penny is upset that she cannot buy presents for her family, so she goes out on a blustery night to the general store, where she trades Robert her beloved doll, "Dolly Belle," for presents. On Christmas day, Penny tearfully distributes her presents, but she is cheered up when Robert returns Dolly Belle. Her happiness is short-lived, however, as she becomes seriously ill from having been out in the cold. Robert tries to apologize to Dorothy, both for Penny's illness and for the incident at his house, but as she is still humiliated, Dorothy returns the presents to him. Penny recovers, and Robert plans on using his inheritance to sponsor a concert for Montefiori, in which he can introduce Dorothy as his protégée. Robert's only stipulation is that Montefiori not let Dorothy know about his involvement. On the day of the concert, Robert is approached by Sally and her lawyer, Mr. Mack, who demands Robert's inheritance money. Robert refuses, telling them that not only did Sally not live up to her part of the agreement about the annulment, but that he no longer has the money. Sally and Mack rush to the concert hall, where they tell Dorothy that Robert is backing the concert with money that belongs to Sally. Dorothy is crushed by the revelation and, her concentration ruined, plays badly on stage, then runs backstage in tears. There, Conrad tries to buy off Sally again, but Robert arrives with a policeman, who arrests Sally and Mack and tells everyone that the couple are married con artists who run a marriage racket. While Dorothy is berating Robert for ruining her concert, the youngsters fall over a piece of equipment and come up kissing, much to the delight of their families, who are now happy with the match.