Doris Elliott, who has grown up in a convent, moves to New York to live with her brother Richard, who belongs to a drug trafficking ring controlled by unscrupulous ward boss Michael O'Leary. Unaccustomed to life in the Lower East Side, Doris remains ignorant of the pervasiveness of crime and corruption in the area until her friend, Mamie Bronson, whose brother, "Dopey Benny," is addicted to drugs, confesses that O'Leary has raped her. Later O'Leary enters Doris' home and attempts to rape her, and in the struggle that ensues O'Leary is shot when her brother unexpectedly arrives. Finding O'Leary dead and Richard unconscious, the police arrest Doris, and she is tried for murder. Defense lawyer Thomas McDonald, who has been working to expose the politician, is losing his case when Dopey Benny testifies that he killed O'Leary to avenge his sister's assault. Doris, who had thought Richard the killer, is acquitted, after which she marries Thomas.