Oma loves Jack and refuses to marry Hartman. Jack protects her and they eventually get married. Lafe and Hazelet have been good friends for years. Hartman tells Lafe that Hazelet voted dry. Lafe and Hazelet have a fight. Lafe builds a spite fence so Oma and Jack cannot communicate. Lafe dies with delirium tremens. Mrs. Tuthill dies from injuries received from Lafe while he is drunk. Just before Mrs. Hazelet passes away her husband promises her never to vote wet again. Maude Le Fever, the siren, who married Alfred Tuthill, deserts him and runs away with Sam Weber; she later deserts him. Alcohol kills old Dan Weber and leaves Sam a poverty-stricken wretch. Alfred Tuthill is redeemed from rum and builds a picture theater where the old saloon once stood and becomes a respected citizen. Jack is elected Mayor of the city, defeating Hartman by a large majority.

A string of valuable pearls provides the motivation for the murder of Wareing, a widowed banker, who intended them for his daughter, Mary. She is comforted by Barton, a criminologist and friend of her late father, who appears to have left his financial affairs in a terrible state. Meanwhile, Mary's fiancé works diligently to identify the murderer. Although the criminologist places the blame on Wareing's butler, a reformed burglar, the killer is finally revealed to be Barton himself.