Thrown out of her home by a jealous husband, a woman sinks into degradation. Twenty years later, she is charged with killing a man bent on harming her son. The son, unaware of who the woman is, takes the assignment to defend her in court.

Nydia, an Early Christian girl seemingly singled out for exclusive persecution by the despotic empress of Rome. The empress' ire seems to have been aroused by the fact that her erstwhile sweetheart, handsome centurion Caius (a very young Ernest Truex) is in love with Nydia.

John Kane, who is passionately fond of his sweet little daughter, has opened his house to a spinster cousin of his, who is alone in the world. Jane repays his kindness by secret envy and hate, and her chief passion in life is the hoarding of the money given her and counting it over and over. On the surface, however, she is suave and smiling. On only one thing does she palpably show the hate which settles within her; she detests Shep, the beautiful and intelligent collie dog belonging to Beatrice and the idol of her heart.