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Janet Gaynor plays a teenaged orphanage waif who protects the younger children from the harshness of the supervisors. One of the orphanage's trustees is millionaire Warner Baxter, who spots Gaynor while visiting the home, is impressed by her tenacity, and decides to secretly adopt the girl and pay for her education. Baxter is determined not to become emotionally involved with Gaynor, but the exigencies of the plot bring the two of them together. Now that she has grown into a lovely young woman, Gaynor is a more than eligible candidate for marriage. Hoping to wed Baxter, Gaynor must first go to her guardian for consent...and imagine her surprise when she finds out the true identity of her benefactor. Based on a popular novel by Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs was remade in 1935 as the Shirley Temple vehicle Curly Top, then filmed again under its original title as a Fred Astaire/ Leslie Caron musical in 1955.