Twenty-year-old Gertrude Foster has had the sheltered upbringing typical of women of her class. Yet, she questions the restrictive norms with which she has been raised and does not wish to marry a man who will not see her as an equal. Gertrude receives a rude awakening to the state of society when she is brought face to face with poverty in her community, and she is further disturbed when she learns of shocking age of consent legislation being discussed in the state assembly. Her concerns hit close to home after she befriends two working-class girls.