As described in a review in a 1925 film magazine,[6] upon the suicide of his father who has embezzled funds, Stephen Dallas (Colman), reared in luxury, forsakes his sweetheart Helen (Joyce) and hides in a mill town.
Lonely, he succumbs to the blandishments of Stella (Bennett). For a while, their married life is happy, and a baby girl is born. Stella, however, never rises to Stephen's social level. She dresses gaudily, her ideas and tastes are crude, and her boon companion is a horseman of the coarse type. Stephen finally leaves her but agrees she can keep their child, Laurel.
Years pass. Laurel (Moran) grows up. Stella comes to the realization that she is a drag on Laurel who takes after her father. Stifling her pride she agrees to a divorce so that Stephen can marry Helen, now a widow, to provide Laurel with a proper home and "mother," but Laurel refuses to leave her own mother. Stella, deciding that no sacrifice is too great for her daughter's happiness, hunts for her friend Ed (Hersholt), now a drunkard, and tells Laurel she is going to marry him. She sends her to visit her father and claims that she and Ed are going away for a year.
Laurel resumes her romance with a fine young fellow and marries him, and Stella in the rain outside watches the ceremony and leaves weeping but happy that her sacrifice has not been in vain.
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