A woman being pursued by an intoxicated man breaks into John Nelson's apartment, imploring his help. Nelson, a young engineer, confronts the man, who accidentally topples through a window to his death. Unable to prove the circumstances, Nelson is convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. With the aid of his cellmate, he escapes and under an assumed name becomes manager of a textile mill in North Carolina. Later, his former cellmate, Pete, is commissioned to find Ethel Barry, the woman who can clear him so that he may marry Edith, the mill owner's daughter; but Ethel forces his hand through blackmail. Detective Mike Kearney tracks him down, but when Montgomery (Nelson) mutilates his hands in a machine to erase his fingerprint identity, Kearney decides to force Ethel to clear him.