Prospector Harry Farley returns from Alaska to find that his sister, Helen, has gone to New York with Florence, her blind daughter, after being deserted by her husband, Richard Norman. Under the name of Sidney Heaton, Norman has married Blanche Maberly and fallen in with a bootlegging gang while succumbing to the blackmail of Dick Watkins. Helen dies, Heaton kidnaps Florence, but Harry tracks him to the Adirondacks.

Joe Morgan, a previously respectable worker, becomes a town drunkard, losing his job and neglecting his family due to the influence of the local tavern, the "Sickle and Sheaf". Joe's daughter, Little Mary, frequently comes to the bar to beg her father to return home. During a confrontation in the bar, a thrown glass hits Little Mary, resulting in her death. Devastated by the death of his child, Joe vows revenge but reforms, ending his addiction and reuniting with his family.