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In a New York City hospital, just after World War I, Louise "LouLou" Mason learns that her newborn son has died suddenly.  Later, LouLou, a war widow, seeks help from an employment agency and reluctantly accepts a temporary job as a nursemaid.  Her new boss, corset manufacturer Frederick K.  Begley, who lost his wife in childbirth, admits to LouLou that he has found it difficult to love his infant son, Fred, Jr.

LouLou quickly ingratiates herself with the Begleys and stays on well past the agreed-upon two-week period.  Eventually, the lonely Fred proposes to LouLou, but she gently turns him down, stating that her first duty is to his son.  Fred then marries Alicia Torgersen, his secretary, and after their honeymoon, Alicia lets LouLou go.  Some time later, LouLou is asked by her new employers, the wealthy Henry and Fleur Palfrey, to meet their eldest son Harrison and his tutor, Jerry Kean, at the train station.  Jerry soon tames Harrison, who has been sent home from boarding school because of poor grades and unruly behavior, and impresses LouLou.

One day, Jerry learns that he has been offered a job in Beirut and, after attending a farewell party with LouLou in New Haven, impulsively proposes.  LouLou accepts and rushes back to the Palfreys to pack and say goodbye to Harrison's young brother Robbie.  While waiting for LouLou, Jerry speaks with Fleur, who warns him about marrying in haste.  Although Jerry insists he loves LouLou deeply, Fleur plants seeds of doubt in his mind, and on the train to Washington, DC, Jerry begins to question the wisdom of his decision.  Guilt-ridden about leaving Robbie, LouLou gives in to her own apprehensions, and after the two agree to wait a few months, she returns to the Palfreys.

Years later, LouLou is nursemaid to Stephanie Rawlins, the twelve-year-old daughter of aging entertainer Annie Rawlins.  On the eve of Stephanie's confirmation, Annie learns that she has been replaced in her current show by a younger actress, but has a chance to tour in another play.  Although Annie promises Stephanie that she will be done with her audition before the confirmation, she is delayed.  Annie is cast, but misses the ceremony, and outside the church, a disappointed Stephanie tells her friends that LouLou is her mother.  That afternoon LouLou sadly informs Annie that she is quitting because Stephanie has become too attached to her.  Heeding LouLou's advice to spend more time with her daughter, Annie turns down the role, but Stephanie is heartbroken over LouLou's departure.

Some years later, on the eve of World War II, LouLou accepts a job caring for the infant of a young couple, Helen and Hugh Williams.  An unenthusiastic parent, Helen panics at the thought of the English Hugh joining the military, and when he later is injured in battle, she heads for England, leaving her son Tony in LouLou's care.  After two years, Helen, now a widow, still has not returned and has stopped sending money to LouLou.  Despite the financial hardship, LouLou continues to care for Tony.

Years pass without word from Helen, and LouLou and Tony bond as mother and son.  One day, however, LouLou receives a letter from Helen, informing her that she has remarried and is returning to New York to reclaim Tony.  Not wanting to give up Tony, LouLou flees to Florida with him, but is soon apprehended.  Faced with kidnapping charges, LouLou defends her actions to the district attorney.  Though highly critical of Helen and her new husband, the district attorney is compelled by law to return Tony to his natural mother.  LouLou's sorrow is then compounded when she learns that her oldest friend, the Scottish Frank Hutchins, who had just proposed to her, has died.  When the now elderly, impoverished LouLou returns to the employment agency, she is told that she is too old to be a nanny but takes a janitorial job in an elementary school to be near children.  Troubled by poor eyesight, LouLou visits an ophthalmologist, who turns out to be the now-grown Robbie Palfrey.  After LouLou proudly shows Robbie photographs of all her "children," Robbie invites her for dinner the following week.  To LouLou's surprise and delight, Robbie has also invited her former charges and their spouses.  As LouLou reacquaints herself, Robbie introduces her to his two small children and tells her that she will be their new nanny.