As young Laura Stanley struggles to make her way independently in New York City, she faces prejudices, limitations, and dangers based on her gender. She also encounters a colorful cast of villains and heroes representing a cross-section of New York society: a vile and corrupt judge, a working-class wife-batterer, a suffragist woman doctor, a gutsy washer-woman, a female crossdresser, and the young man who must accept Laura as an equal before he can win her love.