Summary
In a narrative fueled by the potent venom of familial discord, the formidable Mrs. John Grant Nottingham orchestrates a grand gesture of architectural spite against her avaricious daughter-in-law, Emily. Her gambit involves the deliberate elevation of a 'homely' stranger to the status of sole beneficiary, a move designed to invalidate Emily's parasitic expectations. The designated vessel for this retribution is Annie Johnson, a girl whose existence is a bleak tapestry of tenement squalor and relentless labor, split between the cacophony of Mrs. Cadogan’s six unruly children and the sterile drudgery of a department store. As Annie is transplanted into the Nottingham estate, the film pivots from a study of penury to a chronicle of transfiguration. The warmth of her new environment acts as a catalyst for a physical and spiritual blossoming, rendering her 'ugliness' a mere symptom of her previous misery. This metamorphosis complicates the family dynamic further when Willard, Emily’s son, finds himself ensnared by Annie’s emergent radiance. The inevitable legal skirmish following the matriarch’s demise serves as the final crucible, where the loss of a material legacy is ultimately eclipsed by the securing of a romantic union, effectively thwarting Emily’s greed through a different, more enduring currency.
Synopsis
Wealthy Mrs. John Grant Nottingham instructs her attorney to find an ugly girl to whom she will bequeath her millions, in order to spite her scheming daughter-in-law Emily Nottingham. The lawyer discovers Annie Johnson, a homely orphan who lives in a tenement, caring for Mrs. Cadogan's six children at night and working in a department store during the day. Annie is accepted by Mrs. Nottingham as her sole heir, and she soon wins the old woman's affection. Because of her new happiness, Annie changes into a lovely girl, and Emily's son Willard Kaine Nottingham falls in love with her. When Mrs. Nottingham dies, Emily contests the will and wins the inheritance for herself, but Annie's future is secured when she accepts Willard's marriage proposal.
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