Anna Clark takes her life's savings to give to her son, Jack Clark, so he can leave Ireland for New York and become a famous fiddler. He does so and falls for Gene Gauntier, a banker's daughter and she for him. He forgets about his mother, who comes to New York and buys a ticket for a concert, but can't get to see him. However, when he gets a note from her, he brings her in to meet her prospective in-laws and all is well.
It's not just that this is a silent movie about a violin player; that can be solved by a good accompanist. It's the general sentimental idiocy of this movie that seemed to get into every Hollywood movie about long-suffering mothers. As my mother used to say, "If you don't ask, you don't get."