Based on the novel of the same name by Harold Bell Wright, The Eyes of the World was told almost exclusively via flashbacks. The basic plotline concerns a pretty violinist, the handsome artist who falls in love with her, and the double-dyed villain who hopes to seduce the girl.

Wally and the girl are in love. The rich broker covets the girl, but is rejected. The broker bids the father good-bye just as the latter receives a telegram, telling him that he is a large sum short on margins. The broker reads and tells the father he will help him if he is allowed to marry the daughter. The father agrees against his will. The girl agrees to the self-sacrifice to save her father's honor. Money triumphs, and the broker and the girl marry, but as time goes on, he ill-treats her shamefully.