The film, which was originally titled Scraps, starred and was produced by Mary Pickford, who was the most powerful woman in Hollywood at the time.

Molly, an adolescent inmate and the oldest of their charges, attempts to provide the other poorly clothed, starving kids with loving maternal care.

Joe Bailey and his associate bring a kidnapped baby girl to the farm for concealment until they receive a ransom from the rich father, Dennis Wayne.

Children: Cast notes: In later years, Pickford repeatedly recounted the story that she was concerned that director William Beaudine was jeopardizing the actors, particularly when he insisted she carry a real baby, rather than a doll as she wanted, across some water teeming with alligators (albeit with their jaws bound shut).

[5] However, Hal Mohr, the film's director of photography, debunked this tale, saying "There wasn't an alligator within ten miles of Miss Pickford," and revealing in precise detail how the effect was done.

[4][5] Art director Harry Oliver went to great lengths to transform 4 acres (16,000 m2) of the back lot between Willoughby Avenue and Alta Vista Street into a stylized Gothic swamp.

[5] The ground was scraped bare in places, 600 trees were transplanted, and pits dug and filled with a mixture of burned cork, sawdust and muddy water.