An American World War I soldier whose disfigured face is reconstructed by Austrian plastic surgeons returns home after 20 years, but no one recognizes him, his widow is married to another man, and his son is a grown young man.
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
Cabaret performer Ivy Stevens in an affair with a low-rent traveling salesman is dumped in a 'Dear Jane' letter and finds solace in joining the Salvation Army.