- A venal, spoiled stockbroker's wife impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the charity she chairs and desperately turns to a Burmese ivory trader to replace the stolen money.
- Edith Hardy uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of buying some new gowns. She loses all the money and borrows from wealthy oriental Tori. When her husband gives her the amount she borrowed, Tori won't take it back, branding her shoulder with a Japanese sign of his ownership. She shoots him. Her husband takes the blame. In court Edith reveals all to an angry mob.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- Richard Hardy, a hardworking stockbroker, labors overtime to keep up with the ruinous bills incurred by his beautiful but irresponsible wife Edith, a venal, spoiled socialite who is impervious to his pleas for fiscal restraint. Acting on what she believes to be an insider information, she impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the Red Cross charity she chairs for a stock tip. When she finds the money has been lost, she desperately turns to a Japanese ivory trader with whom she has been thoughtlessly flirting and persuades him to replace the money in exchange for an assignation. When her husband's long-awaited business deal finally materializes, she desperately tries to withdraw from their agreement by replacing the money. Angered and disappointed with her resistance to his advances, he uses a branding device to mark her shoulder as his property. Feeling violated, Edith shoots him in the shoulder and leaves. In order to protect his wife's reputation, Richard confesses to the crime and faces trial for attempted murder.—Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)
- Edith Hardy is greatly admired by Hishuru Tori, a wealthy young Japanese. Edith tells Tori of her husband's request to economize, and he, sympathizing with her, asks her to come to him for assistance whenever she needs it. At a lawn fete given to raise money for the Belgium sufferers, some $10,000 was turned over to Edith as treasurer of the fund. A friend gives Edith a tip on United Copper and she, in hopes of doubling her money, invests the entire fund. The night of the Charity Ball, given at Tori's house, she is informed that United Copper has collapsed and the money is lost. As the fund is to be sent away the next day, Edith hysterically appeals to Tori for his assistance and he gives her a check for $10,000, with the understanding that she is to come to him the next night. The next morning Hardy realizes on his investments and rushes to give the joyous news to his wife. She secures $10,000 from him and that night goes to repay the Japanese. Hardy, suspicious, follows her. Edith offers the check to Tori, but he refuses. Edith threatens to kill herself if he comes near her. Tori offers her his revolver, knowing that she has not the courage. Suddenly enraged, he seizes an iron with which he has been branding some curios and, tearing Edith's gown from her shoulder, places the red-hot iron to her flesh. Edith, wild with pain, shoots Tori in the shoulder and flees, just as Hardy breaks into the room. Hardy finds the check and a piece of chiffon from his wife's dress, and when the police arrive assumes the blame and is arrested. Edith offers Tori everything not to press the charges, but he refuses. The day of the trial Hardy is declared guilty of shooting Tori and is about to be led away, when Edith rushes to the witness stand and bares the brand to the judge and the jury. The enraged audience in the courtroom attempts to lynch the Japanese, but is suppressed by the police. The charge against Hardy is dismissed and he and his wife are reunited.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- This is a synopsis of the 1918 re-release, not the original 1915 film, which no longer exists. A stockbroker, Richard, is on the edge of a deal that can change the lives of himself and his wife, Edith. Edith is only concerned with herself. She spends money they don't have on clothes they can't afford and lives a life of luxury. She goes driving with Arakau, a rich Burmese. She tells Arakau that her husband wants her to stop wasting money, and that he is jealous of Arakau. Arakau offers to buy her some of the clothes she wants, but she turns his offer down with a laugh. Edith becomes the treasurer of the Red Cross Society, and receives $10,000, that she puts into her family safe. She also convinces the Red Cross Society to hold its ball at Arakau's house, which is next to her own. Moreover, her husband's friend, James, suggests that she can double her money if she invests with him. At the Red Cross Ball, James says that his investment has failed, and that he has lost all of Edith's money. She overhears Richard telling James that at that point of time, he can't give James any money at all; all of Richard's money is tied up in his own investment. Thus, Richard won't be able to help her at this point. Arakau suggests that she could go to jail if the Red Cross Society realizes what happened to their money, and offers to write a check to pay back the money lost. She takes his offer, and understands that she will have to pay the price in exchange for Arakau's saving of her honor. On the next day, Edith takes care of her obligation to the Red Cross Society. She goes home, and is surprised to learn that Richard has closed the deal that he was working on at the beginning of the film. He is happy to write a check to his wife for what she says is money lost in a bridge game. Arakau refuses to take Richard's money for Edith's debt. She says she will kill herself, and Arakau obligingly offers her a gun. He tries to rape her, but in the end only succeeds in branding her with his personal seal. She then shoots him in the shoulder and runs off. Richard shows up, finds the check he had written on the floor next to the wounded Arakau, just as the police come and admits shooting Arakau. Edith offers money to Arakau to drop the charges, but Arakau tells her that he won't be cheated twice, and that, in any case, the situation is out of his hands. Edith sees Richard in jail, and Richard urges Edith not to tell anybody what happened in Arakau's house. However, at the trial, Arakau says that Richard shot him. Richard says that he shot Arakau while trying to disarm him, but refuses to explain further. Richard is found guilty of shooting Arakau. Edith can no longer remain silent, and confesses that she shot Arakau, and reveals she did so because Arakau had branded her on her back. The courtroom goes crazy with calls to lynch Arakau, and the judge drops all the charges against Richard.
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