Gloria Swann becomes a dancer at the Palm Garden cabaret, trying to secure a better future and accepts Judge Malvin's offer of marriage despite the disparity of their ages and social stations. One day while Gloria and the judge are driving in the park, their car nearly runs over Larry Gibson, a soldier blinded in World War I. A remark by Gloria's friend, Teddy Safford, has aroused her maternal feelings, and the sight of the lonely soldier makes her even more sympathetic. Gloria takes Larry home and visits him daily. Larry plays banjo and writes songs about soldier life to cheer suffering servicemen.

"So they pitied him, a blind soldier, and blindly went their ways"