A letter from the penitentiary informs Helen Terrane that Conway Royle, her first sweetheart, has been drowned while escaping. Hardly does she finish reading it than through her mirror she sees his face as he peers in a window. She mentions it to her husband, who sneers at her. Angered, she tells him she believes it was his treachery that sent Royle to prison, and declares that she married him only because of a letter from Royle urging such. Gail Harvey phones Terrane as he is about to leave his home and by threats of revealing how the two committed the bank theft for which Royle was sentenced, demands money. He goes to the Terrane home that evening. Royle, who was believed drowned because he left his prison clothes near a swamp, has secreted himself in the house. He overheard how the two plotters had him, their follow bank clerk, accused of the crime. Helen, too, overhears, and compels Harvey to telephone a confession to the newspapers. The police arrive, but Terrane picks up the pistol his wife had laid down, and ends his life. Royle and Helen begin anew.