Ten-year-old Kathy, abandoned at the age of six by her mother, at last finds a foster home where she begins to feel wanted. She gets the star part in the school play, Alice in Wonderland, and is sure that her mother will come back to see her and take her to live with her again.
Meanwhile she has to face the jealousy of a six-year-old and the sneers and mischief-making of a school rival, as well as uncertainty about her new foster mother's affection.