The wealthy Schuyler family hires a strict governess, Quincy, to watch over their daughter Marcia. When the parents leave on a trip to Japan they tell Quincy to send Marcia to a boarding school while they're gone, but Marcia--wanting nothing to do with a boarding school--switches places with Quincy's niece, who is being sent to an orphanage. She is "adopted" by the Benton family, who own a farm. Soon the carefree Marcia begins to have an effect on the dour Benton household--but complications ensue.