[1][2] As described in a film magazine,[3] factory worker Kathleen O'Donnell (Binney) has fallen in love with ambulance driver Harry Stanton (Webb).

After her father Tad O'Donnell (Hernandez), who knows Harry's true character, forbids him in the house, Kathleen leaves home and works overtime at the factory for funds for Harry to complete his medical education, a course of study which exists only in fiction.

The efforts of her family and other employees to show her error lead her to quit her factory job and take a job as a stripper at a restaurant, where she sees him dining with his lady friends.

She later has a happy ending as the owner of the factory Donald Halliday (Baxter) has an interest in her.

The December 24, 1921 issue of Exhibitors Herald illustrated the plot of First Love using a series of twenty numbered stills presented without any explanatory captions.