Everybody's Sweetheart plot
When the benevolent head of the county poor farm is dismissed and replaced by a tyrant, John and Mary, two orphans who have lived there since childhood, decide to flee. Accompanied by a frail old corporal from the farm, they are forced to seek refuge at the home of General Phillip Bingham when the old soldier falls ill. After the corporal's death, the general promises to care for the two runaways. Mary becomes his protégé and John his gardener. Friction arises between the two newcomers and Willing and his wife Jessica, a couple living with the general and hoping to inherit his wealth. One day, the general notices a striking resemblance between a portrait of his deceased son and John.