Bessie Lee, a writer, is rooming in a cheap New York lodging house, an uncle in the country forwarding her an allowance each month. One morning with a rejected manuscript Bessie receives a sarcastic note from Thomas Harvey, editor of "Modern Life," a monthly magazine, informing her that she will never sell a story until she has had actual experience. Her uncle dies, leaving her a heritage of debts. Reduced to poverty, Bessie accosts a pedestrian and asks for money. The man happens to be a detective and he arrests her. The judge, after hearing her story, sentences her to the Home of the Good Shepherd. As the detective is about man to lead her away a man seated in the rear of the court room, who has been an interested listener, rises, tells the judge that he is a western ranch owner, that he likes Bessie's looks, believes her story and will marry her and give her a good home. Bessie agrees to marry the stranger. Bessie giving the name of Alice Kale, and the man giving the name of Tom Moore, are married in the Wight Court. Tom takes Bessie to a dilapidated furnished room in another part of the city There they find food, which Bessie ravenously devours. Two gangsters indulge in a quarrel in a nearby saloon. One gangster strikes the other and flees; the other gangster, pistol in hand, pursues. Bessie finishes her meal. Tom tells her that he is a burglar, that he lied in the court and warns her not to leave the room until he returns. As Tom steps out in the upper hallway the fleeing gangster, who has dodged into the door below, arrives at the head of the stairs and hides behind a barrel. The pursuing gangster enters the lower hall, sees Tom at the head of the stairs, mistakes him for the enemy and fires at him. Tom sinks to the floor wounded. By a clever ruse Bessie makes them believe she was the victim of the shot and sends them on a wild goose chase. The gangster, who hid behind the barrel, appears, congratulates the terrified Bessie on the clever way she "stalled" the "bulls" and helps her lay Tom on the bed in the room. As the days go by Bessie nurses Tom and works as a scrub woman in a nearby drug store. Evenings and in spare moments she writes a story based eh her recent experience. One morning Tom, much improved, leaves a note for Bessie and disappears. Bessie sends her story, "A Splash of Local Color," to "Modern Life," giving her address as general delivery, so that Tom will not know what she is doing. She returns to the room, finds Tom gone and discovers the note. In the note Tom informs Bessie that he is not a burglar, and says he is worse than that, a masquerader, who married her for selfish reasons with the deliberate intention of deserting her, but instead of carrying out his plans he fell madly in love with her and could not stand living platonically with her any longer. The note concludes: "If you love me, wait for my return one week from today, when you shall know me as my true self." Bessie is delighted, for she has grown to love Tom. One morning she gets a letter from "Modern Life." Editor Harvey writes that he accepts "A Splash of Local Color" and adds that he recently took great pains and jeopardized his life to obtain local color for a story which he himself intended to write along the same lines, but that Bessie's story is better and he wishes she would call personally at the office so that he may congratulate her and hand her the check. Bessie is greatly surprised to learn that "Tom Moore" is Editor Harvey. Having learned each other's identity, Harvey takes Bessie into his arms.