"No. 17" is the only name of Gladys Claypool, an orphan in the unhappy charge, with others, of a brutal superintendent. However, he freedom is sought by financiers eager for the possession of some valuables to which she is entitled. A nurse agrees to help them in exchange for a sum of money, and the superintendent intervenes, hoping for a cut of the nurse's profit. The girl suffers greatly, and her life is threatened; but she meets a young man who helps her. He goes West, and the plotters try to remove him in a train wreck, but he survives to find the girl's grandfather and proof of her clear title to the disputed property.