- After an idyllic mountain life in Russia, Berna goes to live with her uncle in the Jewish section of Kiev, arriving just as Cossacks massacre most of the Jews in the city. Berna escapes to New York and works at a sweatshop controlled by Boss Jim McManus, but he seduces her, then throws her out on the street, and she becomes a prostitute. Berna later marries Nicolay Turgenev, a young musician, and they soon have a child, but McManus' daughter Ellen falls in love with Nicolay after seeing him perform and convinces him to leave Berna. To make the separation legal, McManus, now a judge, grants Nicolay a divorce and also gives him custody of the child. Almost insane, Berna goes to McManus, denounces him at gunpoint and then kills him.—Pamela Short
- From her life of freedom in the mountains little Berna is summoned by her uncle, Peter Saramoff, to live with him in Kiev, Russia, and absorb some of the civilization which he thinks her age requires her to have. Her first taste of civilization is a Cossack massacre, in which her uncle and aunt are killed. Berna flees with other refugees to America and a distant relative, who runs a prosperous sweat shop under the political protection of Boss McManus. She is at her machine when the boss visits the shop, notices her beauty and orders that she be sent to him. This is the beginning of a new phase of civilization. Berna is soon earning her living on the streets. One evening she is in a resort to which a young Russian violinist has come to play. She is entranced by his music and goes to him. She helps him to study and improve his art. They are married and a baby is born. The violinist now plays in fashionable restaurants and in one of them the daughter of Boss McManus hears him. She invites him to her home and confesses her love for him before she knows he is married. Even then she persists and asks her father's help. The boss is now a judge, and as he never denied his daughter anything, he agrees to fix it. Berna is "framed up" and sued for divorce. The case comes up before Judge McManus, and when Berna faces the man who caused her downfall she makes such a scene that she is sent to prison. When she comes out her husband has obtained a divorce and custody of their child. Blind with rage, Berna seeks revenge. She seeks out McManus in his home, at the point of a revolver forces him to listen to her denunciation and then kills him.—Moving Picture World synopsis
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