Joe Benton, foreman of a gang of bridge builders, is sent on a job of bridge building on a new railroad through farming country. He saves the life of Bessie Waters when she loses her oar and her boat is dashed against the river abutment of the new bridge. Joe Benton employs a young local blacksmith (who is in love with Bess) on the bridge. Joe vanquishes the blacksmith in a fight, and marries Bess in the spring. Their wedding day begins in sunshine, but ends in a downpour of rain that begins during the ceremony. The superstitious country people see this as an evil omen. The bridge job being finished, Joe is promoted to the foremanship on the job of erecting a skyscraper in a big city. Matt Kelcey, the disappointed suitor, embittered at Joe, is also employed on the city skyscraper work. He drops a piece of iron on Joe at dusk. Joe is laid up and his savings exhausted. Bess gets work in a store, but her beauty attracts attention and she is offered a position as a cloak model. In the new position the example of some of the other models and the constant temptations cause Bess to permit herself to do indiscreet things. Matt Kelcey, employed on a job repairing an elevator in the big wholesale cloak house, recognizes Bess as she leaves the show room with an attentive buyer. Bess is now deceiving the convalescing young husband by telling him she has to work at night; one lie leading to another, regarding her new fine clothes, etc. Matt calls at the tenement and affects a reconciliation with the good-natured Joe, who has never suspected Matt was the enemy who injured him. Matt sows the seeds of distrust of Bess in the mind of Joe, and Joe, seeking to verify his suspicion, finds a note Bess has received. Now able to get about and almost fully recovered, he follows Bess to the gay tango restaurant she is taken to by an admirer. On a specific occasion she has told her husband she will be working late. He confronts her and strikes the man she is with. The actions of Bess kills all the ambition in Joe and he becomes a drunkard. As he descends Matt descends with him. Meanwhile, the contrasting progress of Bess along the primrose path is shown. She prospers in luxury and the gay life she has chosen. Joe finally joins an agitator's "Army of the Unemployed." His rude eloquence, augmented by the fundamentals of his self-sought education, make Joe a leading figure in the demonstrations of the unemployed. He is arrested with the others, and his dramatic recital of the wrongs of the poor and oppressed and denunciation of the sinful luxuries of the unthinking rich, attract the attention of Mark Kingsley, a rich and handsome young merchant and man about town, who is a friend and fellow-club member of the police magistrate. Kingsley becomes interested in Joe and gives him good clothes, money and his card, telling Joe he will secure him employment. Kingsley returns to his apartments and tells his mistress, who is Bessie, of the man he is going to save from one abyss, and tells her his name. Bessie shows signs of agitation and suggests that he be sent to the far west. In his new clothes, the night before he is to meet Kingsley, his benefactor, Joe meets Matt Kelcey and tells him of his good luck and gives Matt money. But Matt is obsessed with his hidden hatred of Joe, tells some gang men that Joe has money. The thugs sandbag Joe, taking his new clothes off him, dress him in old ones, and leave a bottle of whiskey beside him. He is sent to prison. When he is released he seeks out Kingsley, but the latter, believing him worthless and a hopeless drunkard, will have nothing to do with him. Joe falls to his lowest. He becomes a shambling wretch on the bread line and a sodden and trembling hanger-on around missions. He becomes converted and labors for good among the unfortunate wretches. He ministers to a dying gunman after a gang battle, who confesses to Joe that he was one of the assailants who sandbagged and robbed him at the instigation of Matt. He also tells him how Matt betrayed to his pals all the evil he had done to Joe. The gunman dies, and Joe searches for Matt and finds him. He strangles the wretched Matt, after a struggle, and casts the body into the tide. A month later he is again in rags, and seeking a precarious livelihood calling carriages in front of the theaters at night. One night as he opens the door of an auto, he gives a great cry when he sees Bessie, his erring wife, and the fur-coated millionaire is his philanthropic benefactor. The woman screams and faints. The man slams the door and orders his chauffeur to drive on. Joe rushes in front of the automobile out in the street as it turns to dart away, and is struck down. The police halt the car, and the next day a small item in the newspapers tells of the death of a tramp-taxicab caller at the theater, stating further that the tragedy has prostrated "Mrs. Kingsley," and that her husband, Mark Kingsley, well known for his charitable tendencies, will see that the unfortunate man receives a Christian burial.