Life's Shop Window plot
Lydia Wilton, a poor English orphan, is the overworked maid of the wealthy landowner John Anderson, his wife, and their spoiled daughter Bella. Lydia meets Bernard Chetwin, a lodger on the farm who is learning the trade to emigrate to America and become a farmer there. The two marry in secret in a village church, but after Bernard goes to America to prepare for their new life there, she gives birth to a child. Although Lydia has a marriage certificate, Mrs. Anderson throws her out of the house, forcing her to leave for America early.