An old carpenter starts off for work, leaving at home a wife old and ill. At the shop a new foreman is put in charge, and a weeding of the old hands takes place, as the employer insists upon an infusion of young blood among his employees, hence the old man with others suffers the penalty of being old, discharged. At his age he finds it impossible to obtain employment, and having been active and independent all his life is too proud to seek charity. Later, his savings having been exhausted and his wife now seriously ill, starvation promises to be their lot. He goes out to make a last effort for work, and on his way to make a last effort for work, and on his way passes a residence before which stops an automobile. Two ladies alight, one carrying a dog, for which the couple show great solicitude and care. As he views this scene, the old man cannot help feeling that a dog's lot is preferable to his. Weary and hungry he is driven to make a desperate attempt to obtain food by breaking into a butcher shop and stealing a basket of provisions. He is caught, however, by a policeman before he has gotten a block away and taken to the Night Court. Here, of course, his story is the oft-repeated one, and little credence placed in it, so he is put back in the pen. The judge, a kindly disposed man, fearing he might have made a mistake, sends the officer to investigate. The officer returns with the report that the old man has not exaggerated the case. The judge then releases the old fellow and sends the officer home with him with aid, financial, medical and material. But it is too late, for the poor woman's life had gone out during her husband's forced absence.
—Moving Picture World synopsis