Martha's Vindication plot
After the death of her fiancé and the birth of her baby, Dorothea, to avoid scandal, gives the child to her best friend Martha, who has arranged for the child to be raised by her old nurse. Soon after keeping her child a secret, Dorothea marries Deacon Hunt, while Martha becomes engaged to John. When the unscrupulous Sell Hawkins remembers seeing Martha take the baby to the nurse, he accuses her, in front of the congregation, of being an unwed mother. Dorothea remains silent, and Martha, hoping to protect her friend, refuses to tell the truth about the child.