Jerusha "Judy" Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. At the age of 17, Judy is informed by the asylum's dour matron that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. Judy catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him Daddy-Long-Legs. She has an obligation to write him a monthly letter, but she will never know his identity, she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he never will reply. The letters chronicles Judy's educational, personal, and social growth as she attends a "girl's college" on the East Coast

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