Sarah and Son

Sarah Storm and Jim Grey begin performing together as vaudeville entertainers. Months after their stage debut, they have a baby boy named Bobby, while struggling with no steady income. The new family faces financial strain as they work to build a career.

Jim asks a wealthy businessman, John Ashmore, for a loan to support the family. Ashmore denies the request and reveals envy toward Jim's fatherhood, noting his own wife cannot bear children. The rejection pushes Jim toward a life away from the family.

On a whim, Jim enlists for four years in the Marines and leaves the family behind. After returning, he spends time drinking and arguing with Sarah. His enlistment marks a turning point in their troubled marriage.

Jim returns home and immediately quarrels with Sarah. He then disappears with their young son Bobby with the intent of selling him to the Ashmores. Sarah is heartbroken by the betrayal and loses the sense of stability she had fought to keep.

Sarah begins singing with an itinerant musician, Cyril Belloc, to support herself. She continues to search for Bobby while pursuing her career. The new partnership marks a shift from vaudeville to professional singing.

Two years later, Cyril and Sarah perform for WWI veterans in a hospital. While moving among the wounded, Sarah discovers Jim is there near death. He begs forgiveness and tells her that he gave their son to the Ashmores.

Sarah pleads with John Ashmore to permit a meeting to confirm if their son is hers. Ashmore refuses and threatens to have her committed. Howard Vanning, Ashmore's brother-in-law and attorney, offers to help but seems skeptical of her story.

Sarah leaves America for Germany to pursue her singing career. The move signals a new chapter away from the Ashmores and the unresolved question of Bobby. She seeks international opportunities to establish herself as a performer.

Years pass and Sarah becomes an internationally famous opera singer. She returns to New York to perform and reconnects with Howard Vanning. She remains determined to test the claim of the Ashmores and to meet her son.

Back in New York, Sarah declares she is no longer afraid of the Ashmores' threats and demands to meet the boy. She asserts that a birthmark would prove whether he is her son. The tension between past and present intensifies as she challenges the custody question.

Bobby is now thirteen and living with the Ashmores, who shield him with a protective upbringing. He confides to his uncle Howard his fear of being unable to become self-sufficient. The boy yearns for independence and resents his guardians.

To avoid a direct meeting, the Ashmores present the deaf-mute son of a servant as if he were Bobby. They hope Sarah will believe he is not her son. The deception highlights the tension surrounding the custody claim.

Bobby runs away to his Uncle Howard's summer house, seeking freedom from the protective environment. He remains unaware of the layers of adult scheming surrounding him. The move sets the stage for the upcoming encounter.

Howard, now in love with Sarah, brings her to the summer house unaware of Bobby's presence. He engineers an encounter between Sarah and Bobby, orchestrating a dramatic convergence of past and present. The scene propels the narrative toward its climax.