In an Irish boarding school, girls play in the school's grounds, while Helen, an orphan, feels isolated from them as she wonders about the return of her father who went to Australia when she was young and has not returned. In London, unbeknown to Helen, her mother, 'Irish Moll', works as a prostitute, where she meets Gunning and potential clients in a bar. In fact, Helen's father abandoned his wife and child years before, and while | Helen awaits her father's return from Australia, she has been told that her mother is dead.