Hearts of Oak

Old Luke, a Maine fisherman, is in the last stages of smallpox. He sends Crystal, his little daughter, for aid to the grist mill owned by Terry Dennison. Two of the millers shrink from the child, but Terry hastens to the bedside of Luke, who has died in the meantime. Terry takes the child to the cabin of Owen, another old fisherman, and keeps her there until it is certain that she has not been infected with the disease. Then he takes care of her in his own home and later adopts an orphan boy, Ned Fairweather, as a companion for little Crystal. Ned and Crystal become inseparable companions and when they have grown up they fall in love with each other and become engaged. While Ned is away on a trip to Boston, Crystal is standing on the rocks, looking at a photograph of Ned. Owen mistakes it for a photograph of Terry, and convinces Terry that Crystal is really in love with him.