Welden Shaw, a man of about twenty-eight, is the husband of Myrtle Shaw, an ambitious, frivolous social climber. They have one daughter, a little child of four, the only light of her father's life. Mrs. Shaw constantly complains of her husband's lack of ambition and drives him from the home with her nagging. He seeks solace among his men friends and drops into loose companionships and looser habits. His one pleasure, however, is to dangle his baby girl on his foot and tell her animal stories. The domestic affairs of the family grow from bad to worse until the wife, beginning a flirtation with a smooth, suave old roué, leaves her husband, takes her baby with her, and obtains a divorce. She then marries the new love and he takes her to his luxurious home. The first husband, broken in spirit, becomes a burglar. In the course of several years the wife finds her new life less happy then she expected for she has a different man to deal with and he holds her to her bargain, making her life miserable. For comfort in her grief she turns to her daughter, now advancing into womanhood. The stepfather plans to marry off Rhoda to a libertine friend of his, and preparations for the wedding are pushed ahead. The news leaks out into the slums through the papers and the first husband decides to rob the house for the wedding presents. He enters at night, makes a noise, and his daughter, hearing it, slips from her bedroom, comes down the stairs and confronts him. She recognizes the burglar as her father and explains to him of her forced wedding. Rhoda has a sweetheart of her own. Having been denied the right to see him she induces her burglar-father to aid her. This he does, his efforts ending in their marriage. He brings the young people to the girl's home and there confronts Wells and his wife. The latter is in tears straining against the bonds which hold her, and complaining bitterly under the new humiliations which Wells is laying upon her. Shaw recognizes in Wells the man who has deserted a woman he met in the slums. This woman produces proof that Wells has been illegally married. Confronted with the proof Wells breaks down, promises to mend his ways, and an unhappy situation is turned into a joyous one. The picture closes with Shaw and his wife again happily reunited and the little girl seated at his feet listening to his stories of wild animals.