The Broken Gate plot
In the small farming community of Spring Valley, young Aurora Lane causes a scandal by bearing the son of villager Lucius Henderson, who refuses to marry her or even admit he is the father. Rejected by most of the town as a "sinful" woman, she hands her son, Don, over to Miss Julia, the town librarian, who tells the boy she is his "aunt." Don grows up and goes off to college, and when he returns home, the town gossips begin a campaign of gossip. When the town constable tries to chase Aurora out of town, he is found murdered, and Don is arrested for the crime.