Chester Bennett

Widow Margaret Dennis, unaware of the abusive nature of Oliver Cathcart, agrees to become his wife. Among other cruelties, Cathcart has ruined the Taylor family in a bad business deal, causing the death of Mrs. Taylor, turning Mr. Taylor into a worthless drunk and embittering their son Raymond, who swears revenge on Cathcart. Margaret's son Jim, learning of all this, forces his mother to choose between him and Cathcart.

An author's wife threatens to send him out to work unless he sells a story. Finding a publisher who will accept only true stories, the author proceeds to unravel his own past: As a notorious criminal, with his wife as accomplice, he commits robberies, is pursued and captured, escapes, and eventually reforms. Excited by the story, the publisher prepares to buy it. Overcome by his success, the author announces that his wife had been a much "dirtier crook" than himself, and he is about to reveal the details of her life when she overhears him and spoils the scene.

Doris Matthews, a beautiful, innocent young girl, forsakes her sweetheart, Joel Barlowe, in favor of Victor Brant, a wealthy roué. On the night before they are to elope, an old sailor gives Brant a strange potion to drink and then unfolds before his eyes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Deeply touched by this story about the consequences of the wanton destruction of innocent beauty, Brant leaves without Doris. After some time, he returns and finds to his pained satisfaction that Doris, having overcome her infatuation for him, has again turned her tender attentions toward Joel.