Other than using the same title, this film has no connection to, nor is there any film credit linking it to, the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. In this film, Kenneth Hale, a pampered, snobbish young boy, is sent by his father, John Hale, who has served time in prison for a crime he did not commit, down to the country farm of an old friend, Calvin Whittaker. The barefoot, honest, and plucky Billy Whittaker, his girlfriend Pige Bennett, and punky Kenneth get involved with a "haunted" house and a gang of crooks, while Billy helps make a "better man" out of Kenneth.