Released from prison on parole, John Bradley plans to live alone quietly in a cabin in the country. He is visited there by the sheriff's daughter, Helen Grant, on whose account he had got into a fight and killed a man in the past. While he is trying to persuade her to leave, a beautiful disheveled woman in evening dress bursts in. This is Louise Loring, who has run away on foot from her rich protector, Tony Robson.

With a sidekick, Robson pursues her and the sidekick shoots Bradley’s dog. Bradley knocks out the sidekick and Robson reports this to the local sheriff, who wants Bradley back in jail. Tipped off by Helen, Bradley and Louise flee to the New York flat of an old cellmate, Tommy Logan, and there fall in love.

Traced by the police, Bradley escapes with a bullet in his shoulder. Meanwhile Robson has charged Louise with theft in order to trace her and then tries to persuade her to go back to him. Since he is of a vindictive nature and she suspects him of trying to harm Bradley further, she agrees. Bradley arrives with Tommy Logan for a showdown just as Robson decides to murder his sidekick so as to worsen the case against Bradley.