Owen Hanby, the son of the lighthouse keeper, loves Mary Sands, a beautiful girl in the fishing village. Mary, however, loses her heart to John Benson, an artist of the summer colony, marries him and goes back with him to the city. Soon Benson returns to his wild Bohemian life. Loie, a model of Benson's, whom he has wronged, resolves to be avenged. She entraps the artist and Yvette, a pretty French girl, in the studio and then sends for Mary. The young wife, her romance shattered, returns to her father. Owen believes that she still may be won back to himself, but Mary makes it clear to him that, despite what has happened, she loves only Benson. Some time later, when she is about to give birth to a child, Mary, dangerously ill and delirious, calls incessantly for her husband. The doctor tells Owen that her one chance of life lies in her seeing Benson. Owen seeks the artist in the city. Finding Benson unwilling, the islander forcibly kidnaps him. They start back in Owen's sloop. A heavy sea rises. The fury of wind and darkness increases. There is but one life preserver aboard, and this Owen forces upon Benson, compelling him to jump into the water. Benson reaches shore. Sobered by his tragic experience and by the other man's self-sacrifice, he seeks Mary. Fatherhood still further rouses the real man in him. He and Mary are reconciled.