Wealthy businessman John Morgan leaves the running of his luxurious household to his social-matron wife Evelyn, whose responsibilities including setting the rules for their 13-year-old daughter Roberta. All but neglected by her self-absorbed parents as they go about their own individual lives, Robert hates both her governess Anna and--especially--the butler Jenkins for carrying out her mother's rules for her with no discretion; in return, she acts out as she believes that her mother doesn't want her to have anything she truly wants. The only person she considers anything like a friend is the Morgans' personal assistant, Jerome Williams. Things start to change when Roberta meets and befriends poor Black boy Pinkie White, whose family seems happy in their love for one another despite their poverty. Pinkie is the first person close to her own age she has considered a friend. But in meeting Pinkie, all Jenkins can see is a little ragamuffin. After a tragedy occurs, Roberta meets caring Helen Cosgrove, a girls'-school superintendent. From that relationship, Roberta might finally receive the understanding of a true person of authority in her life, and a path for reconciliation within the Morgan household can occur.
—Huggo