Geoff Fulton, a soldier, rescued fourteen year old Lizzie from the oldest of perils for a young girl She came from a desperately poor home and, worried about his increasingly handicapped mother, Geoff saw Lizzie as the solution to his problem and was soon back home with his willing protegee Later, returning from the war, he found Lizzie he hardly recognized given the chance of a new life, she had burgeoned into a talented woman of ideals and expectations