At the turn of the century, Peggy Martin, a beautiful show girl, is the mistress of Lindon Fiske, but she is in love with the handsome young Monte Van Tyle. The young couple marry against his family's will, make their home on 56th St., have a child and are reconciled there with Monte's family. They are happy until Fiske, now ill, comes back into Peggy's life. When she refuses his advances, he threatens to commit suicide and although she tries to stop him, the gun goes off. She is accused of murder and sentenced to twenty years in prison. While Peggy is in jail, Monte is killed in World War I, and their daughter Eleanor is told that her mother is dead. Shortly after Peggy is released, she meets a gambler named Bill Blaine. They go to work for Bonelli, a New York politician who has opened a gambling house in Peggy's old home on 56th St. One night Eleanor visits the house, having inherited her mother's flair for gambling. Peggy decides to teach Eleanor a lesson and makes sure she does not win, but when Blaine calls Eleanor into his private office and threatens to inform her husband about her sizable debts, Eleanor shoots him. Peggy protects the girl by confessing to the crime. Bonelli, however, suspects the truth and offers to clear her, if she agrees to stay permanently in the house on 56th Street.