Rev. Jerold Roper and his baby escape from a wreck at sea on a frail raft. Crazed by want of food and water, the minister is about to throw himself into the sea. His baby he has placed in a strong bound box. A great wave washes over the raft; the box and the baby are swept away. Weakened as he is, Roper can take no step to save his child. He falls unconscious on the raft. The box floats safely to shore. It is washed on the beach near a point where Jacques and Meg Fortell are gathering wreckage which the waves have strewn on the sands. The baby appeals to Meg's motherly instinct. Much to Jacques' disgust, she insists on keeping the infant girl. Rev. Roper at length is rescued by a passing vessel. Twenty years elapse. The minister and the Fortells are living in the same city. Roper is pastor of a church in the slums where he administers to the poor in an effort to forget his long lost daughter. Meg and Jacques are at the head of a den of thieves. Meg, however, despite her own evil ways, has managed to protect her adopted daughter, Jane, from living a life of crime. Jane goes often to Roper's church where she finds a strange tie between herself and the minister. Returning one night from church Jane passes Lloyd Perry, an evil youth, who follows her. His pursuit of Jane leads him to the thieves' den. He is attacked by Jacques. With a revolver he cowers Jacques and Meg. Then a sinister plan enters his brain. He demands as his price of silence that Jacques and Meg sacrifice Jane. They agree. They help Lloyd carry the girl to his room. Jane's cries for help are heard by Rev. Roper, who chances to live in the same apartment. The minister flies to the rescue, fights a stubborn battle hand to hand with Jacques, Meg, and Perry. He rescues Jane and takes her to his church. The crime-stained trio follows him and they are awed by what they see. There at the altar stand Jane and Roper their arms interlocked in embrace. By a strange birthmark on her arm, Jane's identity is discovered.- Moving Picture World, July 24, 1915
This film is wrongly cited as a two reeler in some filmographies.
The British Film Institute print opens a few shots into the action. Only 692 feet remain of this one reeler and it does not close completely. There are some good exteriors of low income areas in Santa Barbara. - DD