In a small town in Alabama, Henry Garnett operates a disreputable cafe and gambling establishment, unbeknownst to his blind mother who thinks him dead; yet his childhood friend, Dr. Alan Hamilton, continues to befriend the outcast. Hamilton is attracted to Faith, a young mother he attends at the hospital who decides to settle in the town; but she refuses his attentions because of her past. When the Ku Klux Klan raids the Owl with the intention of lynching Garnett, who is fatally ill, Hamilton induces the raiders to desist; and he explains to Faith that he must find Garnett's wife before Garnett dies. Learning that Faith is the missing wife, Hamilton, drunk, becomes remorseful over the betrayal of his friend. When called upon to operate on a child, however, he is sobered by the crisis and delivers Faith to her husband, who exhorts Hamilton to care for her and later takes poison. Hamilton and Faith are united, and Mother Garnett retains her belief in the nobility of her dead son.