When Leonard Keith, son of a famous publisher, is implicated in a chorus girl's suicide, he is protected by James Morton, assistant editor of his father's newspaper, although he and Leonard are rivals for the love of Mary Lawrence. Mary, who is in love with Jim, rejects her father's wish that she marry Leonard; and on the night that Morton plans to elope with Mary, Leonard entices her to a restaurant and forces a scene in which she slightly wounds him with a pistol. The pair elope as planned, but Leonard dies from blood poisoning, and Jim is arrested for his murder and convicted. Mary, who becomes ill from wandering in a storm, learns of Jim's predicament only on the day set for his execution; as he is being led to the death chamber, Mary, with the aid of Spec, an office boy, convinces the governor of Jim's innocence, and he is freed.