Cirrus@Austlit

Molly Brown, at 24, is a poor and lonely orphan. In order to better her position, she opens a small guest house at Ferny Creek, but is unable to afford staff and finds working for herself an arduous business. One night she prays tearfully to God to alleviate her circumstances, and a man standing near her window, James Whyte (Jim), overhears her plight. He strikes up a conversation with her and tells of his time in the Army and relationship with his wife Cicely, who lorded her wealth over him and treated him so badly that he had left her and his home in Melbourne to come to the Dandenongs to find work. He decides that he will work for Molly and keep her company, and after five happy weeks, his wife arrives to find him. She is ill, and repentant of the way she had treated Jim. They reconcile and Jim returns home with her just before she dies. He eventually returns to marry Molly, now a wealthy man having inherited his wife's wealth, and they have a son. Molly realises that her prayers have been answered.