Jo Morey, who lives in the St. Lawrence River Valley, inherits her father's barren farm and devotes her entire energies to cultivating it and caring for her invalid sister. Henry Langley meets Jo and proposes marriage to her. She asks him to wait until she is free, but Langley refuses and marries Mary Malden. Eight years later Jo has paid off the mortgage to Captain Longville, and one night she finds a baby in her house; it is Langley's, and a note requests that its parentage be kept secret. Donelle is carefully reared by Jo, and the girl is saved from the villagers' insults by Tom Gavot. When Mary Langley returns to claim her daughter, Jo will not receive her. Donelle learns of her parentage in Jo's absence and seeks refuge with Tom, who asks her to marry him. Pierre learns of his son's marriage and goes to Jo's farm; there the village priest, to whom Mary has confessed, explains the girl's parentage, and Jo rejoices in her child's happiness.