Russell Carrington accepts the blame for a murder charge to protect Rita, the woman he loves, from being accused of killing her husband. He escapes the police, and in a fishing village he assumes the name of Carr and is about to marry Dorothy Wheeler, the town belle, when detectives hired by Rita break up the ceremony and arrest him. Refusing to defend himself, Carrington is sentenced to life imprisonment but is released a year later as the result of the statement of "Sly Sam," a burglar who saw Rita shoot her husband. Dorothy, who has been living with a wealthy aunt in New York, is about to marry wealthy Ross Gunther, but Carrington is released and visits her home on the night of her engagement party. He thrashes a newspaper reporter who threatens to expose her affair with him, and the lovers are happily reunited.