During the days of the California gold rush, Jim Shamrick toils on his claim, Hell's Crater, for two years and then decides to enjoy himself in a nearby mining camp. Bill Gordon, the owner of the local dance hall, gets Jim drunk and then, with the aid of Cherry Maurice, robs him. When the prospector realizes what has happened, he abducts Cherry and forces her to labor in his mine for a year. Though nearly broken by the hard work, Cherry comes to love Jim and eventually marries him.

Jim Shamrick spends two years in the desert developing his mine, and then he seeks a good time in a mining camp. Bill Gordon was prepared to give anyone a good time in his dance hall, but his idea of a good time was getting his victim drunk and robbing him. This he did to Jim with the aid of Cherry Maurice, but Jim was not as willing a victim as the others. He carried Cherry off to his mine, Hell's Crater, and for a year he makes a drudge of her. Then he takes her back, broken and toil-worn, to meet a fresh surprise.—Moving Picture World synopsis