- Severely injured in an attempted getaway, safe cracker Slippy McGee is taken in by Father De Rance and nursed back to health by Mary Virginia after his leg is amputated. Under the influence of the kindness shown him, Slippy reforms and falls in love with Mary Virginia, although she intends to marry Lawrence Mayne. When George Inglesby attempts to blackmail Mary Virginia into marrying him, Slippy uses his skill one last time to obtain some incriminating letters from a safe.—AFI
- Slippy McGee, a safecracker, is attempting a getaway when he suffers a mishap. As he arrives in the North Carolina town of Attleboro, he leaps from a freight train, breaks his leg, and lapses into unconsciousness. He is discovered and taken to Father De Rance, the town's spiritual leader. When Slippy recovers consciousness, he finds his leg has been amputated. He becomes embittered, so Father De Rance undertakes the task of rehabilitating him. Slippy changes his name to John Flint, and hands over his burglar tools to the priest. No longer a safecracker, he takes an interest in butterflies, and the children of the town call him "The Butterfly Man." Then John meets Mary Virginia Eustis. Suspicious of anyone who tries to be kind to him, his heart is eventually touched by the girl. She gives John the first living thing that had ever belonged to him - her dog, Kerry. Then, Doctor Westmoreland, a friend of the priest's, obtains an artificial leg for "John." On occasion, the "ghost" of Slippy McGee would rise up, but John would overcome it. So life becomes good for John, and when Mary Virginia sends him a photograph of herself in her graduation dress, he is overcome with joy. Madame De Rance, the priest's mother, gives a gala festival to celebrate Mary Virginia's homecoming, and invites John. But John discovers that Mary Virginia loves another, a man named Lawrence Mayne. Meanwhile, banker George Inglesby, Attleboro's wealthiest man, wants to marry Mary Virginia. He engages Howard Hunter to blackmail Mary Virginia into the marriage. Hunter had married Mary Virginia's sister, and had then abandoned her. Mary Virginia tells Father De Rance and John that Hunter has a package of compromising letters in his safe. The letters are forgeries, but there is no way or proving that, and Hunter threatens to go public with them if Mary Virginia refuses to marry Inglesby. For Mary Virginia's sake, John allows Slippy to "return." He tells Father De Rance he plans to rob Hunter's safe. After an argument, Father De Rance surrenders Slippy's burglar tools, which the priest had hidden under a statue of the Virgin Mary. Slippy cracks Hunter's safe, taking the letters. Then he returns the tools to Father De Rance, and says "thank God I was able to be of some use to her when she needed me. Put these back in the church. Let them be the I.O.U. of Slippy McGee."
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