James Kirkwood plays a double role as two step-brothers in this maudlin melodrama. Stephen takes the blame for his stepbrother Silky's crime so their mother (Mary Carr) will not be heartbroken with disappointment for her natural son. After five years, Stephen returns to the small town to discover the crooked step-sibling is married to his own former sweetheart Alice (Doris Kenyon). He rescues the couple's young child from a burning building, but is accused of Silky's murder when the stepbrother is found stabbed to death. Stephen is jailed and faces execution for the crime unless a shadowy witness to the blaze agrees to come forward to clear his name.