Dr. MacAuley, a kindly, beloved country doctor, is sent to Fillmore Prison. His crime was for removing a bullet from a young man who was escaping from the police. This is man whom he had brought into the world many years before. At Fillmore he is assigned to work in the jute mill after the prison doctor, Frank Norton, spurns his request to work in the hospital. "Lindy" Lindstron, MacAuley's co-worker in the mill, has a sudden heart attack and Dr. Norton declares him beyond help. MacAuley administers adrenaline and Lindstrom recovers. News of the recovery spreads and MacAuley is besieged by fellow convicts with real and imaginary ills, and Norton requests his transfer to the hospital. Lindstrom, suffering greatly, begs MacAuley to give him an overdose of sedative, and offers him $10,000 he claims to have hidden "outside." MacAuley refuses, but is so touched by Lindstrom's agony that he talks over the possibility of a mercy death with Norton. Nightingale, a prison trusty, has overheard Lindstrom's request and he promises to obtain the sedative in return for the $10,000. The next day, Lindstrom is found dead. Norton, who scoffed at MacAuley's request, believes that MacAuley gave Lindstrom the fatal dose.