Absorbed in his business affairs, Philip Carter seems to neglect Elice, his wife, and Harvey Beck takes advantage of his dereliction to woo her. She repulses him as a good wife should, and goes to her husband, but Philip, engrossed in a discussion with his lawyer, waves her away. Mortified, she decides to throw in her lot with Beck, and takes her child. But Beck wants her unencumbered, and while they are discussing the matter Carter comes on the scene. He takes the child from Elice and bids her go. At the station, while waiting for the train, Elice sees an outcast shivering in the cold, and gives the girl her coat. The train is wrecked, and Beck is killed. The outcast, wearing Elice’s coat, is identified as Mrs. Carter, and Philip, stunned by the tragedy, leaves his native place and establishes quarters in New York. Elice secures employment in a fashionable modiste’s shop, and is eventually taken into partnership. Her son, Robert, grown to manhood, is engaged to Edith Hollis, daughter of a Wall Street operator. Edith and Robert visit the modiste’s, and Elice beholds her son. The modiste, dying, bequeaths the business to Elice. Carter leads a bull movement on the exchange. Informed that Carter is fighting him, Hollis gives battle, and Carter has his back to the wall. Hollis forces Edith to break her engagement with the son of his enemy. Elice, a witness to the scene, goes with the girl and Robert to Carter’s home, and enters his private room just as he is about, to commit suicide. At sight of his wife’s ghost Carter lets fall the pistol. A moment later Robert and Edith enter. While the boy is learning that Elice is his mother, Carter’s lawyer arrives with the news that ruin is averted, Elice having secretly pledged her fortune to his support.