The story opens in a bank in Minneapolis. Fred Wentworth, one of the clerks, is sent out on a message, and while he is gone the cashier is shot dead by Frank Davis, a robber and bad man generally. Davis secures a package of bank notes and hurriedly departs. On his way to the street he runs into Fred Wentworth (who is returning to the bank) with such force that he drops the package. He recognizes Wentworth and, fearful of arrest, rushes away and catches a northbound train that is just pulling out. Wentworth stops amazed and lifts the package. Entering the bank, he discovers the dead cashier and a revolver on the floor. Horrified, he lifts the revolver, and while holding it and the package of bills in his hands the president of the bank enters. The proofs of murder are so clear that Wentworth is sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary. Frank Davis, in the meantime, has gone to one of his old haunts in the North, near the boundary line. He induces one of his former associates to join him in whiskey-running across the border. While the men are engaged in this outlawry, Fred Wentworth escapes from prison and heads for the Northwest. He is saved from death in the snowdrifts by an officer of the mounted police, who carries him to headquarters. After his recovery he applies to the chief for admission to the force, and is accepted as a member. The president of the Minneapolis bank, a brother of the chief of the N. W. M. P., chances to arrive at the post on a visit about, the time that Wentworth is about to leave on a search for the whiskey smugglers. The president catches a side glimpse of Wentworth’s face as he rides off, and tries to recall it. He fails, but it still haunts him, and the truth flashes on him some time after Wentworth’s departure. He immediately denounces Wentworth as an escaped murderer, and the chief dispatches two of his men to arrest that officer. Wentworth, in the interim, has discovered the smugglers, and is badly worsted in an encounter with Davis, whom he recognizes as the murderer of the cashier. The two officers arrive at the spot shortly after the struggle, and Davis opens fire on them. They mortally wound him and he is carried into the cabin, where they arrest Wentworth. Davis, after confessing that he killed the cashier, and that Wentworth is innocent, dies. Wentworth is taken back to the post and is cleared of the crime in presence of the chief and his brother. He is then restored to his former position in the Minneapolis bank.