Miss Marilla Chadwick has been preparing a celebration for her nephew Dick's return from the war. Her young neighbor, Mary Amber, has agreed to help but she isn't excited by the prospect. She remembers the child Dick from years before as nasty and unfeeling but it means a lot to sweet Marilla to welcome her "war hero" in style. When a telegram from Dick arrives turning down the invitation, Marilla hides it and her disappointment from her friend, pondering what to do next. Then she sees a tall, young soldier walking down the road toward her house and hatches a plan.

Lyman Gage's return from the battlefields of World War I is a disaster. His girl is engaged to another man and he owes her father money from a business deal. He immediately sells his property and repays the debt, wanting nothing more to do with the pair. Broke and broken, he wanders on to a train and gets off at a country station, ambling down a road with no destination. That is, until a little old lady approaches him and asks him to dinner.

Her request is curious but she's a charming lady and he's hungry, so why not? He'll happily pretend to be nephew Dick in exchange for a good meal. But things get complicated when skeptical Mary Amber soon questions his identity and suspects him of deceiving her dear friend.