- Rethna works hard to organize her fellow factory employees against the miserly, uncaring owner, Henry Burke. Then, realizing that she needs money to fight Burke, she begins an affair with his unscrupulous son Harry. After a year she breaks up with him to marry his kind brother Walter, and so continues to use Burke funds to aid Burke employees. Walter truly loves Rethna, but when he finds out that she married him only for his money, he leaves her. Then, while she is at the factory pleading with Henry for better conditions, a fire breaks out. Walter rescues Rethna from the flames, and during her convalescence she discovers that she really does love him. She and Walter reconcile, and then, as a result of the fire, Henry decides to spare no expense in improving factory conditions.—Anonymous
- Rethna is a girl of the tenements, living alone in her attic. Her whole soul's interest is given to the people of the slums, whose battles she fights. Her only aim in life is to gain justice for them from the powerful ones of the earth. Rethna's determination to rise above her poverty causes her to find employment in a factory, owned by Henry Burke, a miser. He gives them harsh treatment and unsanitary conditions under which to work, and there is a growing spirit of rebellion among them. He has two grown sons, Harry and Walter. Harry is a ne'er-do-well spendthrift, while Walter is a fine fellow who has become a successful lawyer. Henry Burke wants his younger sou to come into the business with him, but Walter refuses to be connected with the factory, under the existing conditions, and they have a quarrel, during which the father tells his son that he never wants to see his face again. Rethna and the foreman of the factory are the instigators of the growing rebellion among the employees. One day one of the factory girls faints and Rethna and the foreman take her to Burke's office, where Rethna begs the old man to prevent such occurrences in the future by giving the workers more sun and air. Burke refuses and discharges Rethna for her impertinence. Harry is present, having come to ask his father for more money, and attracted by the girl's spirit and beauty, he follows her and offers to help her. She accepts and later Rethna is seen presiding at gay parties in her beautiful apartments, but her heart is still with her people, and she spends much time with them. Harry, driven to desperation by her unresponsiveness to his now-real affection and his failure to provide the money she constantly demands, has begun to use morphine. His father has stopped supplying him with cash and he appeals to Walter, who has pity on him and gives him money. Walter Burke, now district attorney, goes down into the slums to "get a line on" a gang of toughs and is shot at by members of the gang. Rethna, coming out of a tenement, gets in range and is slightly wounded in the shoulder. Walter takes her to her home in his car and when he phones for a doctor she learns his name, Rethna immediately determines to finish the work she has begun by playing Walter, as she did Harry. If it is possible, for this is one of the "other ways" by which she is going to "beat" Harry Burke. She recovers quickly from the wound and continues her activity in planning with the foreman the campaign against the factory owner. Walter's interest in her grows and about a month after their first meeting he proposes to her and she accepts him. Some time later, married to Walter, who loves her deeply, Rethna's thought is still nothing but money, money for her suffering people. The foreman comes to her unexpectedly one night when her husband is out and tells her he must have more money to carry out their plans. She has no money, but finally thinks of some jewels she has, Walter's present to her, and decides to give them to him. She goes upstairs after them, leaving the foreman standing at the foot of the stairs in the dark. In the meantime Walter returns and the foreman, hearing him coming, steps out through a long window onto a balcony, Walter comes into the dark hall and sees the foreman's shadow on the floor, then hears his wife on the stairs. He stands still on the spot where the foreman had stood and Rethna comes down the stairs and puts the box of jewels into his hand, thinking he is the foreman. Walter switches on the light, takes in the situation and springs on the balcony, but the foreman has fled. Walter demands an explanation, but she refuses. Later she is shown entering the factory with the foreman to make one last appeal to Burke to better conditions in the factory. He refuses to concede anything to them and the foreman orders the workers to walk out. The mob begins throwing stones at Burke who has come to the door. He retreats and phones for his son, Walter. The stones begin coming through the window and the old man falls with an attack of heart failure just as a brick strikes the oil stove, tipping it over and setting fire to the room. Rethna sees the smoke and runs into the building. She is trying to drag the old man out when Walter drives up and meets Rethna with his father. They take him out through the back window into Walter's car. As they are driving away a flying stone crashes through the car window and strikes Walter on the head. Rethna orders the driver to go to Walter's home. Walter isn't seriously injured and when he recovers Rethna tells him about herself. When Rethna has finished her story, Walter is dumb with anguish to know that his wife had belonged to his brother. Harry, at home, falls into a stupor and dreams that Rethna wanders down the hall and into the dining room. Harry has crept around the house and sees her through the window. He goes to the dining room door and demands entrance. When she lets him in he grabs her by the throat and forces her back against the wall, threatening to kill her. She is passive, not seeming to care what he does to her, even telling him to take her life. He grasps a candlestick on the sideboard to strike her with it, and as he pulls it toward him he overturns a box of nutpicks. One falls and sticks in the floor and as he sees this and Rethna, standing against the door with arms outstretched, he is struck with an insane idea. Grasping the candlestick and nutpick, he dreams that he nails her hands to the door and starts to nail her feet, but before he can do so the horror of his act comes over him and he staggers to his feet and rushes out. He wakes, horror-stricken at his vision. Rethna has an accident in which both of her hands are badly burned. Her husband is absent, and during her convalescence she misses him, and realizes that without his love the future holds nothing for her. He is suffering, too, and he also realizes that he cannot live without her. He returns to her, stopping on the way to see his father, who is weak and feeble, but says, with a smile, "I was all wrong, but I am all right now." Walter and his wife are reconciled, and decide to begin life anew.—Moving Picture World synopsis
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