Moran of the Lady Letty explains that Moran was another vehicle to portray a strong, masculine character, here a San Francisco playboy who is transformed into a "masculine, sun-burned sailor". Valentino fights the villain in the ship's rigging. Though the female love interest, Moran, tells him initially that she is "not made for men", they do kiss in a happy ending. As did Laredo, so does Moran's character change--from an independent, sexually ambiguous person to a "more feminine, definitely heterosexual woman at peace with her estrogen". The choice of Dorothy Dalton was criticized in a review in Variety.

The story explains that Moran has grown up on and around ships and can handle herself on the water as well as any man. In San Francisco, where a young socialite, Ramon Laredo, complains that he is tired of the same tiresome round of parties and dances. He wishes he could get away from it all. While on his way to a yachting party, he meets up with an old sailor. Though initially dismissed as a pampered weakling by the crew and captain, Ramon proves his manhood and gradually gains everyone's respect. A Scandinavian ship in distress is spotted off the bow; the pirate crew quickly move in to loot the burning ship. It is Moran, of course, whose father has perished aboard the burning ship. Efforts to hide her identify are futile; when Captain Kitchell discovers a female is on board, it is clear that the woman's virginity is endangered. Ramon, however, is determined to protect her. They are delighted to see him and urge him to rejoin their company. But Ramon makes it clear that his experience of recent months has changed him, has made him a better man. Confidently, happily, he returns to the ship and to Moran's waiting arms.

Frank Norris (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A Story of California (1901), and The Pit (1905). Frank Norris's work often includes depictions of suffering caused by corrupt and greedy turn-of-the-century corporate monopolies. In The Octopus: A California Story, the Pacific and Southwest Railroad is implicated in the suffering and deaths of a number of ranchers in Southern California. Though free-wheeling market capitalism causes the deaths of many of the characters in the novel, this "larger view always ... discovers the Truth that will, in the end, prevail, and all things, surely, inevitably, resistlessly work together for good".