Banking magnate Peter V. Wilkinson deliberately bankrupts his own trust company and secretly puts deposits into an account in the name of his daughter Leslie. After the police repel a mob of depositors bent on attacking Wilkinson, the trust's vice-president, Giles Illingsworth, breaks into Wilkinson's mansion, intent on shooting him, until Leslie calms him. Illingsworth's fiancée, Madeline Braine, who once was Wilkinson's mistress, shoots at Wilkinson after he tells Illingsworth of their affair, but Wilkinson's secretary shields him and is killed. Madeline becomes demented, and Illingsworth is sentenced to death for the murder. After Wilkinson finds that he cannot bribe the judge and jury hearing his case, he arranges for Eliot Beekman, Leslie's sweetheart, to be elected Governor of New York. When Beekman pardons Illingsworth, but refuses Wilkinson's pardon, Leslie denounces him, after which Wilkinson contrives a phony suicide and escapes. After Beekman and Leslie overhear Wilkinson bribing a detective, Beekman forces Wilkinson to restore the money to the depositors. Wilkinson is then pardoned, and Beekman's marriage to Leslie is announced.