Jenny Yates, a talkative teenaged orphan who lives with her grandfather, Uriah Lowell, on his New England farm, becomes stage-struck when a theatrical troupe from New York arrives in town with a revival of the Victorian melodrama, Virtue's Reward . Because Jenny's mother, who had run away from home to become a stage actress and later died tragically, once played the lead role in Virtue's Reward , Uriah refuses to allow Jenny to attend the show. Jenny, however, ignores her grandfather's threats that she will be locked out permanently if she goes, and sneaks out of the house. Although Uriah leaves the door unlocked that night, Michael Arbuckle, a thieving hired hand who fears exposure from Jenny, latches it. Consequently, when Jenny returns home and finds the door locked, she assumes that Uriah has banished her and hides in the car trunk of artist Philip Greene, a wealthy heir who is traveling with the troupe. Philip discovers Jenny on the way to New York and, though distressed by the situation, agrees to drive her to the city. There, Jenny convinces Philip to help her find a job in the theater, and sure that she will be rejected, he sends her to Archie Fisher, the director of Virtue's Reward , which is about to open in New York. Struck by Jenny's natural innocence, Archie decides to cast her in the lead, but neglects to tell her that the production is to be a spoof on the melodrama. When Philip, who has fallen in love with Jenny, realizes that she is being used by Archie, he tries to educate her but, confronted by her bubbling enthusiasm, is unable to break the news. Just before the play's premiere, Uriah arrives in New York and meets with Philip's businessman father about Jenny's whereabouts. As Uriah, Philip and his father watch, Jenny opens the show and is shocked when the audience begins to laugh at her performance. Humiliated, Jenny runs from the stage and refuses to finish the play. After apologizing for his harsh attitudes, Uriah drives a disillusioned if wiser Jenny back to the farm and, on the way, discovers Philip hiding in the trunk.