Rachel Grant is a 15-year-old girl who is plain in face but rich in character. She's the motherless daughter of a highly lauded and important professor, who loves his daughter but is so caught up in his scholarly paper he gives her little attention. Her two brothers call her Dumps. When a wealthy, kind woman takes her under her wing, Rachel loves the woman for her kindness. Love turns to hate when that woman marries her father, supplanting the mother she never knew, only knowing her from a painted miniature. An excellent book, all told.