Summary
In the wake of a stepfather’s last gasp, Jane Day—half-feral songbird of the prairie—finds herself bequeathed like a parcel of heirloom seed to Jim Atherton, a citified heir whose cufflinks gleam harder than his conscience. The arrival of Jim and his porcelain fiancée detonates Jane’s sense of tenancy; she bolts, canine shadow in tow, toward the electric dusk of the metropolis where marquees blink like cheap cathedrals. Allen Hamilton—impresario with a carnation in his lapel and melancholy tucked behind the smile—discovers her warbling on a stoop, recognizes the tremolo of unmined gold, and purchases her future with a steamship ticket to Paris, city of phosphorescent rain. Across the Atlantic, Jane’s voice unfurls in Montmartre garrets while Jim—suddenly conscience-struck—materializes among the fog-soft boulevards. Love ignites inside a mirror-maze of guilt and desire. Hamilton, hearing his own heart for the first time, presses his suit; Jane, indebted and breathless, balances on the fulcrum between gratitude and pulse. In the final cadence, Hamilton cedes the stage, a maestro extinguishing his own spotlight so the lovers can exit into a dawn the color of unfinished chords.
Synopsis
Upon her stepfather's death, the custody of Jane Day is willed to his wealthy young nephew, Jim Atherton. When Jim, accompanied by his fiancée, visits his ward, Jane becomes so upset at their intrusion that she runs away to the city with her dog, Buddie. There she is befriended by theatrical producer Allen Hamilton who, upon discovering Jane's natural musical ability, offers to send her to Paris to study. In Paris, Jane again meets Jim and the two fall in love. Meanwhile, Hamilton discovers his love for the waif, and Jane, feeling gratitude towards her mentor, is torn between the two men until Hamilton, realizing that Jane's heart belongs to Jim, withdraws his suit.
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