In 17th centry America a woman who has a child outside of marriage has to wear a red letter A on her clothes as punishment. Things are complicated when her husband reappears on the scene knowing the child is not his and the real father is the local clergyman who suffers guilt for what he has done and the pain inflicted on the woman and the daughter by the community. The film moves slowly and there are some curiously inappropriate comic scenes that detract rather than add to the story. This was Colleen Moore's final film as she was more at home in silent films. The film is based on a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.