Alas and Alack

Cleo Madison is watching her daughter when a wealthy yachtsman puts his tender ashore She tells a tale to the child of a princess who loved a prince, but a witch drove the prince away and imprisoned the princess in a seashell. That is why you can hear crying when you put your ear to the shell. The yachtsman overhears the story, and gets a few of the daisies that brighten her shack. He then returns to his yacht and his fat, uncaring wife, to dream of what might have been. Meanwhile, Miss Madison' husband, Lon Chaney, returns with the day's catch and more nets to mend.

Today it seems heavy-handed and sentimental. At the time, it was an attempt to not so much tell a story as a study in moods, and the truism that things never turn out as well as we might wish.