Born with a cleft palate and left as a foundling on the doorstep of a convent, Nell yearns to know her mother, whose name, she knows, is Jane. When the Mother Superior tries to pawn her off to a mean-looking farmer and his beaten-down wife, Nell opts for the only alternative she can see: she runs away. A chance encounter with a dime novel exhorting the exploits of Calamity Jane, heroine of the west, gives Nell the purpose of her life: to find Calamity Jane, whom Nell is convinces is her mother.
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