The settler, his wife, and three sons work on the land, but the harmony of their life is broken. Each time the settler goes to the neighbouring settlement he falls under the influence of his curse, and arrives home in a state of collapse. The mother is gradually breaking her heart at the possibility of her sons being afflicted with their father’s vice. First the eldest son falls a victim, and the next one speedily follows. The youngest son goes away, and secures employment on a distant ranch. Soon he is infatuated with his employer’s daughter. The feeling is mutual, and on the prairie they tell the old story of love. A day arrives when the curse of heredity becomes stronger than his good resolutions, and the lover is jeered at for his refusal to drink with his companions. In his absence, they fill his water gourd with whisky. The victim enters his cabin, and takes a drink from his gourd. The taste fascinates, and he drains the gourd to the last drop. Then follows the bitter awakening, and, full of shame, he leaves his sweetheart and all that reminds him of his fall, and goes out into the unknown seeking oblivion. - The Bioscope Supplement, August 8, 1912
British release: August 14th, 1912
The motive is a temperance lecture, with a short love story. the evil is plain, but the story carries no corrective. - Moving Picture World, June 29, 1912