In Italy, Sister Beatrice becomes the confidante of the Contessa Angelica de Vecchio, whose brother, Prince Candoni, has placed her in a convent for having an affair with Carlo Parodi, a young radical. Angelica soon dies, and Beatrice, suddenly aware that she needlessly has shut herself off from the real world, leaves the convent and joins a group of revolutionaries. She marries Guido Perli, one of the leaders, and tries to temper his radical fervor with some religious tolerance. Finally, however, he calls on the people to rise against Candoni, and a horrified Beatrice alerts the prince. Candoni sends out his guards, and during the fighting, both Carlo and Guido are killed. Before he dies, however, Guido forgives his wife for betraying him to the prince, after which a remorseful Beatrice returns to the convent.—Pamela Short

Beatrice, who is a nun and who is known to the rest of her sisterhood as the "Lily" because of her great goodness and purity, hears for the first time in her life of the real wickedness of the world without the convent walls, when the Prince Candoni brings his ward, the Contessa Angelica de Vecchio, to the place for refusing to give up her low-born lover, Carlo Parodi. The Contessa dies, pining for her lover. And Parodi is released from prison where he has been kept because of his marriage. Beatrice steals away from the convent one night and meets Parodi just as he is being released. She tells him of the sad death of the Contessa, and his heart filled with the desire for revenge, he takes Beatrice with him to a meeting of workmen led by Guido Barli, an atheist. These workmen are laying plans for the overthrow of the tyrant Prince Candoni. Beatrice calls Guido to task for his atheism, and they fall in love. She converts him to religion. Then, when Guido is consoling the wife of a comrade who has met with misfortune, Beatrice sees him holding the woman in his arms, concludes that he is faithless and leaves him. Finding her gone, Guido becomes bitter and returns to his old beliefs. He goes to his eager band and bids them storm the palace of the prince. Beatrice hears of their intention and warns the prince that they are coming. He at once summons the soldiers and a bloody battle takes place in which most of the workmen are killed. The future has but one solution for the dying Guido and the remorseful Beatrice, and how it works out is the finish of the film.—Moving Picture World synopsis