Richard Morris

A young man just released from prison can't find work because no employer will hire an ex-convict. Broke and hungry, he steals money off of a painter. The painter, however, takes pity on him and decides to help him get his life back together.

Recent immigrants August and Hilda cannot understand the American emphasis on weddings, because in their country, couples never get married. Fearing that he will be arrested for living with a woman who is not his wife, August stows away on a ship and dies in a wreck at sea. Afterward, Hilda tries to commit suicide, but the wealthy Esther Grail saves her, and then adopts her infant son Stephen. Years later, Esther tells him the circumstances of his birth, and so Stephen goes on a crusade for the rights of illegitimate children.

Veteran postman Bob Morley and his son Johnnie are honored for their service to the U. S. Mail Service. When Johnnie takes a position on the Enterprise, he is falsely convicted of theft and murder when the cargo is stolen and the ship's officer is shot.

After a prologue that takes place in Hell, young millionaire Mason Van Horton becomes involved with Doria, the vampish wife of influential businessman John Manners. When Mason falls in love with Beverly Hope, however, he rejects Doria, who, out of revenge, tells John that Mason tried to seduce her and then begs her husband to ruin him.

Johnnie Gains, son of a farming couple, is industrious and imbued with a spirit of sacrifice. Rejected for military service because of an eye injury, he enlists in the Salvation Army.

During the days of the California missions, Jose Garcia becomes friends with Luis Lopez, a local Robin Hood determined to redistribute among the poor the loot of the rich. Inspired by Luis, Jose sets out to rob the home of wealthy landowner Don Ortega. On the way, however, Jose gets lost in the desert and is nearly dead when he is found by Don Ortega's aristocratic cousin, Castro Arrellanes, and Castro's daughter Carmen, who take him in and nurse him back to health. Jose quickly falls in love with Carmen, and as a result, renounces his plan of robbing the rich. Then, he learns that Luis has made plans to break into Don Ortega's house.

The plot, old-hat though it is, does provide an opportunity for that wonderfully seedy villain, David Dirby, to do his dirty work and more importantly, to tie all the thrillingly on-the-spot railroad footage together. Railroad buffs will enjoy all the atmospheric detail director Johnson has obtained by filming in real freight yards and inside and alongside real steam engines and rolling stock.