Set in 19th Century Holland, a young woman moves with her family from the country to Amsterdam to seek a better life for them. What they find are deplorable living and working conditions, with the woman moving from one poor quality job to another, until she finally takes up prostitution to earn money. Using her new "profession" as the means to get out of the squalor of the slums, the young woman works her way up the social ladder until she eventually becomes that which she resented when living as a poor person.